Women remain severely underrepresented

In its recent elections, Ghana’s acclaimed democracy underwent something of a stress test, which it passed by reaching three important milestones. First, the relatively peaceful transfer of power from incumbent to opposition. Second, the election of Ghana’s first ever woman vice president. And third, a first outing for the new affirmative action act, signed into law only months before the election. However, in this election the legislation’s aim of empowering women in politics paid off more in rhetoric than in actual numbers.

George M. Bob-Milliar and Diana Højlund Madsen, the Nordic Africa Institute

On 7 December 2024, Ghana held its ninth presidential and parliamentary elections since the restoration of constitutional rule in 1992. Close to 19 million people had registered to vote, 52 per cent of them women and 55 per cent young people (up to 35 years). The presidential race was contested by candidates from seven political parties and four independents, and 801 candidates (15 per cent of them women) competed for the 276 seats on offer in the parliamentary election. All in all, the election was a straight fight between the two dominant parties: the ruling New Patriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), the main opposition party. Both domestic and international observers adjudged the elections free, fair and credible.

For the fourth time since 1992, we saw a relatively peaceful transfer of political power from an incumbent (NPP) to an opposition party (NDC). Over his eight years in power (2017–2025), President Nana Akufo-Addo and his NPP administration had weakened institutions, interfered with civil liberties and nurtured a culture of self-censorship, leading many citizens to disengage from the state. Yet, the political system survived and produced an opposition victory. This is proof of just how resilient Ghana’s democracy is.

The elections also recorded a couple of firsts – on gender and women’s political representation. Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang was elected the first female vice president of Ghana. The 2024 election was also the first with affirmative action legislation in place: a bill had been passed by parliament in July and assented by President Akufo-Addo less than five months before the election. It seeks to increase women representation in politics, with the goal of achieving 30% in 2026, 35% in 2028 and 50% in 2030 at national level. The NDC has the highest proportion of women among its members of parliament, but both of the two major parties fall way below the 30 per cent target set out for 2026 in the legislation: NDC has 16 per cent (30 women out of 183 MPs) and NPP has 11 per cent (10 out of 88 MPs). The NDC increased its women representation (from 20 in 2020 to 30 in 2024).

Economic issues decided the election

The elections were decided primarily on economic competence. The Akufo-Addo administration ushered Ghana into bankruptcy, introducing economic hardship that Ghanaians had not experienced since the early 1980s. The NDC opposition candidate, John Mahama – himself a former president – campaigned as a change candidate, with the agenda of #ResettingGhana. His opponent, the NPP Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, attempted to distance himself from the unpopular incumbent Nana Akufo-Addo with his #BoldSolutionsForTheFuture.

The issue of LGBTQ+ rights also featured in the election campaigns. In 2024, Ghana passed a set of anti-LGBTQ+ laws, including one whereby anyone who publicly identifies as LGBTQ+ now risks being sentenced to three years in prison. The legislation, which has been condemned by the UN, has polarised Ghana, and President Akufo-Addo refused to sign it into law as legal complaints were pending and it would have economic consequences as the IMF and the World Bank threatened to withhold funding. The opposition NDC and conservative groups mobilised against the governing party during the election campaigns.

Another hot topic in the election debate was artisanal and small-scale mining, known informally as galamsey, and the environmental harm it causes. President Akufo-Addo had promised to end it, but failed.

Landslide victory for the opposition

The NDC’s top figures – the former president, John Dramani Mahama, and his running mate, Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, won by a landslide: their presidential ticket garnered over 56 per cent of the votes, against 41 per cent for the NPP’s Mahamudu Bawumia and his running mate, Matthew Opoku Prempeh. The NDC also won a majority in parliament – 183 seats against the NPP’s 88 seats. Independents won four seats. The ruling NPP had all the advantages of incumbency, but the NDC appeared well organised and well financed, despite having been out of office for eight years. While the NPP was factionalised, the NDC looked more cohesive. The outcome of the elections proved that Ghana’s democracy is resilient. Akufo-Addo’s administration had politicised independent institutions, and yet democracy prevailed.

The 2012 rupture led to many advances

Ghana’s most recognisable achievement in its efforts to strengthen democracy has been its better management of the polls and the increasing acceptance of them as “free and fair” by election observers. Research has shown External link, opens in new window. that the democratic rupture in the 2012 presidential election led to a number of improvements in the electoral system. It exposed flaws and led to citizens being better educated on the electoral process. It also taught political parties that vigilance at the polling stations can help win elections.

To understand the Ghana elections, it is, of course, important to study the campaigns that preceded them. A recent study External link, opens in new window., drawing on an original dataset of campaign visits in Ghana’s 2016 and 2020 elections, shows how the candidates from the two major parties diversified their strategies beyond rally-intensive campaigns: they extended the communicative and representative elements of the traditional rally through socially embedded practices, by relying on occupational groups like market associations and fisherfolk to mobilise voters.

A regional and sub-regional comparison

Ghana’s elections followed a continental trend: it became the fifth nation in Africa to witness an opposition party victory in 2024. Earlier in the year, in Senegal, Botswana, Somaliland and Mauritius, incumbents had lost elections to well-organised opposition parties for such reasons as economic stagnation, decline in governance standards and public intolerance of corruption. The 2024 Ghana elections were conducted against the backdrop of democratic decline in the sub-region, marked by, for example, military governments in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, Guinea-Conakry and Gabon.

Considering Sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, West Africa generally has the lowest level of female representation in all chambers of parliament, with an average of 18% External link, opens in new window.. After the 2024 election, Ghana falls short even of that figure, with women accounting for 15% of MPs. But the average conceals major differences between those countries that have adopted a quota (for example Senegal, with 46 per cent of MPs female) and those that have not (for example Nigeria, where 4 per cent of MPs are women), according to the Global Gender Gap Report 2023 External link, opens in new window.. Ghana has a first-past-the-post (FPTP) or “winner takes all” electoral system. According to a report by International IDEA External link, opens in new window., such a system – with its focus on finances, influence and the old-boy network – leaves little room for women as newcomers in politics.

The first affirmative action legislation

The affirmative action coalition of gender activists and organisations, spearheaded by lawyer Sheila Minkah-Premol and hosted by the national women’s organisation Abantu for Development, played a vital role in advocating for the legislation, with online campaigns and demonstrations in Accra and Kumasi. The adoption of act is an important milestone, and is the culmination of a long process. It started in 2011 with a revision to the old 1998 administrative directive adopted by the Cabinet, which encouraged all political parties to field more women candidates, a directive that was never implemented by the political parties. Quotas in politics are important External link, opens in new window. and should ideally ensure that: 1) women form a critical mass that will pursue women’s policy concerns; (2) women form strategic coalitions to promote policy change; and (3) women in politics will alter male behaviour in the political arena.

Given the time it took for the legislation to be passed, it is fair to describe the processes of gender and institutional change as slow, gradual and pragmatic. Højlund Madsen External link, opens in new window. has shown how contested language or sections have been cut out, watered down or consigned to appendices. The act states that political parties “shall ensure the progressive achievement of the gender equality targets”, by providing information and financial resources to support gender equality, as well as by considering the nomination of women candidates and the appointment of women party officials at national, regional and district level. However, equally important are initiatives highlighted at the end of the legislation, such as the training of potential women candidates, a mentoring programme with senior women MPs, follow-up on the experiences of women MPs and the development of a database of aspiring female candidates. These initiatives will make a difference, especially for younger candidates, and should put an end to questions about what qualifies a woman to enter politics. But there is a need to move beyond a focus on individual female candidates and address institutional barriers for women within political parties as well.

Even though the number of female MPs has remained the same, and even though this level is a long way from the 2026 target of 30 per cent, we can see a shift in the rhetoric. In the election campaign, both the NPP and the NDC voiced their rhetorical commitment to the affirmative action legislation’s targets, in an effort to appeal to women voters. In his inaugural speech External link, opens in new window. on 7 January, Mahama repeated the NDCs commitment to “breaking the glass ceiling”. The two major political parties – the NDC and the NPP – fielded 39 and 36 women candidates External link, opens in new window., respectively. However, in the transition team External link, opens in new window. President-elect Mahama and the NDC did not ensure that gender interests were represented (by, for example, including the women’s organiser in the party).

Soft, unfocused and too weak on violence

The affirmative action act has three weaknesses. First, it is a “soft law”, which makes it less effective than, for example, a legislative quota, which is a “hard law” with immediate effect and legal repercussions. Second, in its design, it is very broad, with a focus on affirmative action in all areas of society. To overcome this, the affirmative action coalition must continue to focus on women political representation. In effect, the implementation depends on the goodwill of the male-dominated political parties to support and field more female candidates – particularly in the “safe seats” in their respective strongholds. It will also depend on the effectiveness of those institutions charged with overseeing it – especially the gender machinery (Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection) which has been starved economically and the Electoral Commission to focus more on gender equality.

The third weakness is that the issue of gendered electoral violence is largely overlooked. Some aspects of it are mentioned in article 31, but with an emphasis on verbal attacks. However, other forms of gendered electoral violence exist and verbal or semiotic violence also takes place online. A 2019 report External link, opens in new window. by the Gender Centre for Empowering Development highlights the prevalence of electoral violence, especially against women. It shows that women active in politics in Ghana are exposed to different forms of gendered electoral violence, such as verbal (72%), emotional/psychological (41%), sexual (29%) and physical violence (14%). Also in this last election, there were reports of women voters being targeted and intimidated at some polling stations, for example at the UDS Nyankpala polling station in Tolon constituency External link, opens in new window..

The “opened door” – symbolic or substantive

As mentioned, the election also saw another “first”, with a woman – Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang – becoming vice president. This was the second time she had run, and this time she was backed by the “Jane Army of Women External link, opens in new window.”, which prepared her campaign tours at festivals, market places as well as on social media. Her record as a former minister of education and vice-chancellor of Cape Coast University means that she appealed to the large group of young voters and female voters who aspired to educational opportunities and gender equality.

It is not uncommon in the African context to have female vice presidents: altogether, 16 African countries have had 21 female vice presidents. In West Africa, Ghana is the fourth country to have had a woman vice president (after Benin, Gambia and Liberia). Currently, only Tanzania and Namibia have a women president, Samia Suluhu Hassan and Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah – both of whom previously served as vice president. In Ghana, the Convention People’s Party (CPP) – which introduced a party quota back in the days of President Nkrumah – was the only party to field a female presidential candidate, Nana Akosua Frimpomaa. She obtained 0.2 per cent of the vote.

Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang has emphasised that she has “opened the door External link, opens in new window.” and that it will remain open for other women. Here she is referring to the symbolic representation of women in high political positions as a “representation for the represented” or a role model promoting respect and legitimacy for women in politics. However, the true litmus test relates to the substantive representation of women, implying a focus on how women in high political positions can promote policies and laws favouring gender equality. In the election manifesto for the first 120 days External link, opens in new window., where Mahama (and thereby also Opoku-Agyemang) pledged to roll out 26 key initiatives in the first three months following the election, there are two initiatives related to girls/women. The first is to provide free sanitary pads for girls in primary and secondary education; and the second is to supply seed funding for a women’s development bank. Both are laudable initiatives, but they are not targeted at making the political parties and systems any more inclusive for women or at changing the rules of the game. However, more initiatives are mentioned in the main NDC manifesto.

Conclusion

Elections have emerged as the legitimate way of changing governments. The liberal script runs the risk of the “fallacy of electoralism External link, opens in new window.”. Ghana’s global standing was reaffirmed in the recent elections, when the country demonstrated that its democracy has developed resilience despite authoritarian tendencies on the continent. The conduct of the elections and their outcome both demonstrate the commitment of citizens to sustaining the democratic project and proved citizens are critical of the non-delivery of the democratic dividends. Questions of gender and women political representation are also part of the liberal script for electoral exercises. Ghana’s elections mark several firsts, in the form of a woman vice president and the earlier passage of affirmative action legislation. It has yet to be seen if – or how – these achievements will translate into substantive gender gains on the road towards deepening democracy.

Policy recommendations

• Nordic policy makers, as proponents of liberal democracy, should support think tanks and organisations with a focus on democratisation and gender, in order to further deepen democracy – especially due to the insecurities in West Africa and pockets of violence within Ghana.
• States should adopt accountability mechanisms that prevent incumbents from politicising independent democratic institutions, such as electoral commissions, and restrict their ability to make appointments or tamper with the constitution in order to arrogate power to themselves.
• Political parties should develop a roadmap, with tailored initiatives to ensure that they meet the targets set out in the affirmative action legislation on gender equality, drawing inspiration from those African countries with a similar electoral system and quotas (for example in East Africa).
• Gendered electoral violence against women active in politics contributes to democratic backsliding. Since much of the political violence that targets women active in politics relates to fellow politicians (either from the opposition or their own party), the political parties’ law (Act 574 from 2000) should include measures to mitigate this, in line with the African Union’s Maputo Protocol (article IX). Here it should be outlined which support structures are in place for women in politics exposed to gendered electoral violence and the consequences for the perpetrators.