Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, has said Ghana’s decision to decentralise its electoral system was inspired by Nigeria’s success in managing constituency election results.
While commending the smooth conduct of Ghana’s 2024 presidential election, Yakubu observed that until the last election, all parliamentary and presidential results were sent to the headquarters of the Electoral Commission in Accra for announcement.
Ghana’s former President John Mahama won the country’s presidential election held on Saturday, December 7, 2024, after his main opponent, Vice President Mahamudu Bawumia, conceded defeat.
The defeat in Saturday’s election ended two terms in power for the governing New Patriotic Party (NPP) under President Nana Akufo-Addo.
For the 2024 presidential election, Ghana adopted a decentralised system, allowing constituency-level officers to announce parliamentary results locally, while only presidential results were sent to Accra.
Yakubu, who monitored the election in a short video posted on Sunday, believed that Ghana’s current approach to managing results at the constituency level was inspired by Nigeria, adding that the process has improved the efficiency of the electoral process.
“The second thing for me is the lesson that Ghana also learned from Nigeria in the area of managing constituency election results. Until the last election in Ghana, all results came to the Electoral Commission’s headquarters in Accra, both parliamentary and presidential.
“Although Ghana is not a federal system, they learned from Nigeria, where you have returning officers who announce results for parliamentary elections in various constituencies around the country. Only the presidential election results come to Accra.
“In Nigeria, this is what we have done, and they borrowed a leaf from us, and this is the second time they are implementing that. That is why, as you can see, the declaration of the presidential election result was a lot faster than it used to be in the past,” he said.
Yakubu further observed the political stability inherent in Ghana’s democracy, noting the consistency of its political party structures and voter loyalty.
He cited the perseverance of the main opposition candidate, a former vice president, and the current President, Akufo-Addo, who contested multiple elections before achieving success.
“Rarely in Ghana do you see people moving from one party to another with every general election. So, that is important.
“It provides stability. It also provides their supporters with stability. So, there are people who have supported political parties for many years. Whether the party is in power or opposition, they stick to the political party,” Yakubu said.
