Ghanaians are Peacefully Casting Their Votes Across the Country

Peace at the Voting Ballots in the Capital City

Ghanaians cast their votes on Monday in a presidential election viewed as a close fight between President Nana Akufo-Addo and his longtime rivals John Mahama who signed a peace pact on Friday in the spirit of ensuring Ghana’s traditionally violence-free power transfers — already experienced on seven occasions since the country returned to democracy nearly 30 years ago.

Enoch, a voter at the Osu neighbourhood in the capital city Accra , shared the significance of this presidential election, "This election means a lot, actually we go through this every four years. It's a normal thing and we hope everything goes well and that we get what we want."

Akufo-Addo of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) and Mahama of the National Democratic Congress party (NDC) have already gone head to head in prior elections and the two major parties have always accepted electoral outcomes - pursuing any grievances through the courts.

A National Tradition of Peaceful Democracy

Gideon, another voter at the Osu neighbourhood in Accra, expressed his stance of peacefully coexisting in spite of perceived-differences, "Some are Christians, some are Muslims or some are Ashantis. So we've just to pray nothing violent happens. We want it peaceful and we want it together. We should address our brothers and sisters and there is no fight or reason to do anything violent."

Around 17 million Ghanaians are registered to vote for a new president and members of parliament for 275 seats.

They are among 12 candidates who are running — including three women and key issues include unemployment, infrastructure, education and health.

Economic Progress in Ghana

Ghana has made giant strides over the past two decades and is the world's second-largest cocoa producer.

However, there is still room for improvement as many Ghanaians still live in extreme poverty with scarce access to clean water or electricity.

The Covid-19 pandemic has also hit the Ghanaian economy hard as growth in the nation of 30 million people is expected to fall this year to 0.9% — its lowest in three decades, according to the International Monetary Fund.