1979 Ghanaian general election
Presidential election
← 1960 18 June 1979 (first round)
9 July 1979 (second round)		 1992 →
 
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

CandidatePartyFirst roundSecond round
Votes%Votes%
Hilla LimannPeople's National Party631,55935.321,118,30561.98
Victor OwusuPopular Front Party533,92829.86686,09738.02
William Ofori AttaUnited National Convention311,26517.41
Frank BernaskoAction Congress Party167,7759.38
Ibrahim MahamaSocial Democratic Front66,4453.72
John BilsonThird Force Party49,1042.75
R. P. BaffourIndependent8,8120.49
Kwame NyantehIndependent8,4800.47
Mark Diamond AddyIndependent5,9590.33
Imoru AyarnaIndependent4,8740.27
Total1,788,201100.001,804,402100.00
Registered voters/turnout5,070,000–
Source: Nohlen et al.

Parliament

PartyVotes%Seats
People's National Party645,08036.4471
Popular Front Party541,65930.6042
United National Convention310,06217.5113
Action Congress Party156,4848.8410
Social Democratic Front69,0523.903
Third Force Party31,8871.800
Independents16,1650.911
Total1,770,389100.00140
Source: African Elections Database

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

  1. ^ a b Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p438 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
  2. ^ a b Jeffries, Richard (July 1980). "The Ghanaian Elections of 1979". African Affairs. 79 (3): 401. JSTOR 722047.
  3. ^ "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.
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