Ghana flag Ghana: Economic and Political Overview

The political framework of Ghana

Political Outline

Current Political Leaders
President: Nana Addo Dankwa AKUFO-ADDO (since 7 January 2017) ; the president is both chief of state and head of government
Next Election Dates
Presidential: December 2024
Parliament: December 2024
Main Political Parties
Since Ghana's democratisation in 1992, two parties have been dominating the political scene:

- New Patriotic Party (NPP): ruling party, centre-right, liberal conservative
- National Democratic Congress (NDC): main opposition, social democratic.

Other parties include:

- All Peoples Congress (APC)
- Convention People's Party (CPP)
- Ghana Freedom Party (GFP)
- Ghana Union Movement (GUM)
- Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP)
- Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG)
- National Democratic Party (NDP)
- People's National Convention (PNC)
- Progressive People's Party (PPP)
- United Front Party (UFP)
- United Progressive Party (UPP).

Executive Power
Executive power is exercised by the government. The President of Ghana is both head of state and head of government. Their term length is four years and can only be renewed once. The president appoints the vice president and ministers; however, at least half of them must come from the Parliament.
Legislative Power
Legislative power is vested in the Parliament. The Parliament of Ghana bears similarities with the British Parliament and its members are elected through simple majority (or First Past the Post) voting system. Ghana is divided into 275 constituencies each electing one member of the parliament. Members serve four-year terms.
 

Indicator of Freedom of the Press

Definition:

The world rankings, published annually, measures violations of press freedom worldwide. It reflects the degree of freedom enjoyed by journalists, the media and digital citizens of each country and the means used by states to respect and uphold this freedom. Finally, a note and a position are assigned to each country. To compile this index, Reporters Without Borders (RWB) prepared a questionnaire incorporating the main criteria (44 in total) to assess the situation of press freedom in a given country. This questionnaire was sent to partner organisations,150 RWB correspondents, journalists, researchers, jurists and human rights activists. It includes every kind of direct attacks against journalists and digital citizens (murders, imprisonment, assault, threats, etc.) or against the media (censorship, confiscation, searches and harassment etc.).

World Rank:
30/180
 

Indicator of Political Freedom

Definition:

The Indicator of Political Freedom provides an annual evaluation of the state of freedom in a country as experienced by individuals. The survey measures freedom according to two broad categories: political rights and civil liberties. The ratings process is based on a checklist of 10 political rights questions (on Electoral Process, Political Pluralism and Participation, Functioning of Government) and 15 civil liberties questions (on Freedom of Expression, Belief, Associational and Organizational Rights, Rule of Law, Personal Autonomy and Individual Rights). Scores are awarded to each of these questions on a scale of 0 to 4, where a score of 0 represents the smallest degree and 4 the greatest degree of rights or liberties present. The total score awarded to the political rights and civil liberties checklist determines the political rights and civil liberties rating. Each rating of 1 through 7, with 1 representing the highest and 7 the lowest level of freedom, corresponds to a range of total scores.

Ranking:
Free
Political Freedom:
2/7

Political freedom in the world (interactive map)
Source: Freedom in the World Report, Freedom House

 

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Latest Update: March 2024

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