1979 Ghanaian general election
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Presidential election |
← 1960 | 18 June 1979 (first round) 9 July 1979 (second round) | 1992 → |
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| | | Nominee | Hilla Limann | Victor Owusu | | Party | PNP | PFP | Popular vote | 1,118,305 | 686,097 | Percentage | 61.98% | 38.02% | |
Results by region |
President before election Jerry John Rawlings Military | President-elect Hilla Limann PNP | |
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General elections were held in Ghana on 18 June 1979, with a second round of the presidential election on 9 July 1979. The presidential election resulted in victory for Hilla Limann of the People's National Party, who received 62% of the votes in the run-off,[1] whilst his PNP won 71 of the 140 seats in Parliament. According to one scholar, the elections were conducted "in as free and fair a manner as might be considered humanly possible under local conditions" and the losing candidates publicly accepted defeat.[2] Around 5,070,000 people were registered to vote.[1]
The Electoral Commissioner during the elections was Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah, an Appeal Court Judge who was appointed by the Supreme Military Council (SMC).[3] Although the SMC was overthrown on 4 June 1979, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council military government which replaced it allowed the elections to proceed just two weeks later.
Results
President
Candidate | Party | First round | Second round |
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Votes | % | Votes | % |
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| Hilla Limann | People's National Party | 631,559 | 35.32 | 1,118,305 | 61.98 |
| Victor Owusu | Popular Front Party | 533,928 | 29.86 | 686,097 | 38.02 |
| William Ofori Atta | United National Convention | 311,265 | 17.41 | |
| Frank Bernasko | Action Congress Party | 167,775 | 9.38 | |
| Ibrahim Mahama | Social Democratic Front | 66,445 | 3.72 | |
| John Bilson | Third Force Party | 49,104 | 2.75 | |
| R. P. Baffour | Independent | 8,812 | 0.49 | |
| Kwame Nyanteh | Independent | 8,480 | 0.47 | |
| Mark Diamond Addy | Independent | 5,959 | 0.33 | |
| Imoru Ayarna | Independent | 4,874 | 0.27 | |
Total | 1,788,201 | 100.00 | 1,804,402 | 100.00 |
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Registered voters/turnout | 5,070,000 | – | | |
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Source: Nohlen et al. |
Parliament
Seats won by region
Party | Central | Accra | Eastern | Ashanti | Brong-Ahafo | Volta | North | Upper | Western | Total |
People's National Party | 8 | 6 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 11 | 7 | 15 | 9 | 71 |
Popular Front Party | 0 | 1 | 6 | 19 | 10 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 42 |
United National Convention | 0 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13 |
Action Congress Party | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 10 |
Social Democratic Front | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
Independents | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
Total | 15 | 10 | 21 | 22 | 13 | 16 | 14 | 16 | 13 | 140 |
Source: Jeffries[2] |
See also
References
- ^ a b Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p438 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
- ^ a b Jeffries, Richard (July 1980). "The Ghanaian Elections of 1979". African Affairs. 79 (3): 401. JSTOR 722047.
- ^ "Profile of Alan John Kwadwo Kyerematen, the Next NPP Flagbearer". VibeGhana. 25 April 2014. Archived from the original on 29 April 2014. Retrieved 18 February 2022.