1979 Ghanaian general election

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]

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

Parliamentary election

← 1969 18 June 1979 1992 →

All 140 seats in Parliament 71 seats needed for a majority

Party Vote % Seats People's National Party 36.44 71 Popular Front Party 30.60 42 United National Convention 17.51 13 Action Congress Party 8.84 10 Social Democratic Front 3.90 3 Independents 0.91 1 This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below.

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
			Votes	%	Votes	%
	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	8,490	0.47
	Mark Diamond Addy	Independent	5,957	0.33
	Imoru Ayarna	Independent	4,874	0.27
Total			1,788,209	100.00	1,804,402	100.00
Registered voters/turnout			5,070,000	–
Source: Nohlen et al.

Parliament

Party		Votes	%	Seats
	People's National Party	645,080	36.44	71
	Popular Front Party	541,659	30.60	42
	United National Convention	310,062	17.51	13
	Action Congress Party	156,484	8.84	10
	Social Democratic Front	69,052	3.90	3
	Third Force Party	31,887	1.80	0
	Independents	16,165	0.91	1
Total		1,770,389	100.00	140
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

• List of MPs elected in the 1979 Ghanaian parliamentary election

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Michael Krennerich & Bernhard Thibaut (1999) Elections in Africa: A data handbook, p438 ISBN 0-19-829645-2
2. 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.