Ghana is due to get a recent president after December’s election. The current vice-president, Mahamudu Bawumia, and a former head of state, John Mahama, are the two leading candidates in contention to triumph the poll.

Nana Akufo-Addo, first elected in 2016, is coming to the complete of his second and final four-year term.

On Saturday 7 December, the nearly 18.8 million Ghanaians registered to vote will be able to receive part in the country’s ninth general election since multiparty politics was reintroduced in the early 1990s.

In the last 30 years, the country has had a series of closely fought but peaceful polls. Ghana has a reputation for the orderly transfer of power between administrations.

On polling day, two elections will be taking place simultaneously:

• Presidential – there are 12 candidates
• Parliamentary – voters in 275 constituencies across the country will be choosing their MP.

Although 12 hopefuls are vying for the presidency, only two have a realistic chance of winning. Since the profit of multiparty politics in 1992 only candidates from either the National Democratic Congress (NDC) or the recent Patriotic event (NPP) have won.

The two front-runners are:

• Mahamudu Bawumia (NPP) – Having served as Akufo-Addo’s vice-president for eight years, the 61-year-ancient Oxford-educated economist could make history as the country’s first Muslim president. The former deputy governor of the central lender gained a reputation for his budgetary recognize-how. But that could also be his undoing as he has faced heavy criticism after Ghana plummeted into its most severe economic crisis in years under his watch.
• John Mahama (NDC) – Winning this ballot would represent a comeback for the 65-year-ancient as he already served as president for four-and-a-half years from 2012 but then lost the 2016 election. In office, he was nicknamed “Mr Dumsor”, which is a reference to the power cuts that plagued his period in office. Amid the current tough economy, Mahama has pledged an “urgent reset” for the country that needs an experienced chief at the helm.

Among other candidates garnering attention are:

• Nana Kwame Bediako – The businessman, also known as “Cheddar”, does not have a political background but has made a lot of impact on social media and attracted youthful supporters.
• Alan Kyerematen – The former minister, nicknamed “Alan money”, left the NPP last year after complaining that the presidential primaries were biased against him. He could draw some NPP back in the event’s heartland in the Ashanti region.

Economic questions have topped people’s concerns in the construct-up to the election, especially the rising expense of living. At the complete of 2022, the annual expense boost rate hit 54%. It has arrive down since then but prices are still rising steeply.

The globe lender said as many as 850,000 Ghanaians may have been pushed into poverty in 2022 because of the rising prices of goods and services. These “recent impoverished” joined the six million who were already living in poverty.

By the complete of 2022, government finances had been depleted with little left to back the country’s budgetary schedule, forcing Ghana to leave to the International Monetary capital for assist.

• How Ghana’s central lender lost $5bn in one year

Unemployment among youthful people and an exodus of Ghanaians looking for better opportunities elsewhere has also been a characteristic of recent years.

The NDC has decried this as an “abysmal act” and has demanded a reset.

The governing NPP says it has built a resilient economy that is on the “cusp of… transformation” so it is not the period to transformation.

Concerns over the environmental impact of illegal gold mining – known in the country as “galamsey” – have become another major talking-point. A series of demonstrations over the habit, which has led to the pollution of several major rivers with risky chemicals, have been held in the construct-up to the vote.

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Both major parties consent that the issue needs to be addressed, but while the NPP says it is significant for the economy to allow some tiny-scale miners to continue their work, the NDC is calling for much tougher regulation and the restriction of recent licences.

To triumph the presidential election in the first round, a candidate must get more than half of the votes cast. If no-one passes that threshold then a second round run-off featuring the two candidates with the largest number of votes will receive place by the complete of December.

The parliamentary election is run on a first-history-the-post basis with the winner being the candidate in each constituency with the largest distribute of votes, even if that is less than 50%.

On election day, each voter can turn up to their assigned polling station with their voter’s ID card, where they will have their fingerprints electronically checked and are then issued with the two ballot papers. Each person who has cast their ballot then has their little finger marked with indelible ink to prevent voting a second period.

Since 1992, Ghana has had several tight presidential elections.

In 2008, less than half a percentage point separated the two candidates in the second round.

In the election four years later, the winner, Mahama, crept over the 50% threshold in the first round by less than 80,000 votes.

That outcome triggered a legal complaint from the NPP, which argued that tally sheets at sure polling stations had been tampered with. The test was unsuccessful, but it did navigator the electoral fee to introduce recent measures to ensure greater transparency.

Election observers have frequently praised the way the vote has been run.

Going by previous elections, the electoral fee is likely to announce the outcome by 10 December.

Additional reporting by Favour Nunoo and Komla Adom in Accra

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