General Information
At stake in this election:
- 230 seats in the Parliament
Description of government structure:
- Chief of State: President John Agyekum KUFUOR *
- Head of Government: President John Agyekum KUFUOR
- Assembly: Ghana has a unicameral Parliament with 230 seats.
* The president is both the chief of state and head of government.
Description of electoral system:
- The President is elected by absolute majority vote to serve a 4-year term.
- In the Parliament 230 members are elected by plurality vote in single-member constituencies to serve 4-year terms.***
*** The number of Assembly Seats increased from 200 seats the last election.
Main parties in the electoral race:
- Party: New Patriotic Party (NPP)
- Leader: Samuel Arthur ODOI-SYKES
- Seats won in this election: 129
- Seats won in last election: 100
- Party: National Democratic Congress (NDC)
- Leader: Dr. Huudu YAHAYA
- Seats won in this election: 90
- Seats won in last election: 92
- Party: People's National Convention (PNC)***
- Leader: Edward MAHAMA
- Seats won in this election: 4
- Seats won in last election: 3
- Party: Convention People's Party (CPP)
- Leader: Nii Noi DOWUONA
- Seats won in this election: 3
- Seats won in last election: 1
*** In this election, the PNC created a political alliance with the Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), Every Ghanaian Living Everywhere Party (EGLE), and the Democratic People Party (DPP).
Last Legislative election:
- Parliamentary elections were last held on December 7, 2000. In this election, 200 seats were contested in Parliament.
Population and number of registered voters:
- Population: 20,840,493 ( 2004)
- Registered Voters: 10,354,970 (2004)
Gender Data:
· Female Population: 10,402,918 (2004)
· Is Ghana a signatory to CEDAW: Yes (17 July 1980)
· Has Ghana ratified CEDAW: Yes (2 January 1985)
· Gender Quota: No
· Female candidates in this election: Yes
· Number of Female Parliamentarians: 25 (following the 2004 elections)
· Human Development Index Position: 140 (2014)
· Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: High (2014)
Disability Data:
· Is Ghana a signatory to CRPD: Yes (30 March 2007)
· Has Ghana ratified CRPD: Yes (31 July 2012)
· Population with a disability: 3,126,073 (est.)