Active political parties, independent candidates that will likely contest 2020 elections

The Electoral Commission (EC) recognises 29 political parties in Ghana, but out of this number, only a handful is active during most elections.

The story is the same for the upcoming December 7 elections as GhanaWeb monitoring of the political scene shows only a handful of the parties are active ahead of the polls.

The two main political parties, the opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the incumbent New Patriotic Party (NPP) have launched their manifestos and held numerous events in a bid to convince the Ghanaian voters in the upcoming elections.

Although the contest is very much expected to be between these two dominant parties, some minor political parties and independent presidential candidates have demonstrated their readiness to be a force to reckon with in the upcoming elections.

Earlier this month (September 2, 2020) 11 political parties took part in a ballot for the order of appearance on the political programmes of the state broadcaster, Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC), ahead of the 2020 elections.

Although the appearance on the political programmes will be free of charge, only 11 political parties showed up for the ballot, indicating their preparedness to take part in the elections.

The parties are:

- Great Consolidated Popular Party (GCPP), led by Henry Lartey;

- Ghana Freedom Party (GFP), led by Madam Akua Donkor;

- Liberal Party of Ghana (LPG), led by Mr Kofi Akpaloo;

- National Democratic Congress (NDC), led by John Dramani Mahama;

- People's Action Party (PAP), led by Kwesi Busumbru;

- New Patriotic Party (NPP), led by Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo;

- All People's Congress (APC), led by Hassan Ayariga;

- United Front Party (UFP), led by Dr. Nana Agyenim Boateng;

- Ghana Union Movement (GUM), led by Christian Kwabena Andrews;

- Democratic People's Party (DPP) (its leader in 2020 is not known) and

- National Democratic Party (NDP), led by Nana Konadu Agyeman Rawlings.

Although the People's National Convention (PNC), the Convention People’s Party (CPP) and the Progressive People’s Party (PPP) were not present for the ballot, the three parties have been busy with internal elections ahead of the general elections.

For instance, last month, the CPP elected Ivor Kobina Greenstreet as the presidential candidate of the party for the 2020 presidential elections, beating two other contenders, Mr Bright Oblitey Akwetey and Mr Divine Ayivor, to win the slot.

The PPP has also elected Brigette Dzorgbenuku as its flagbearer for the 2020 elections.

Three independent presidential candidates have also been active for this year’s polls. Merrick Kofi Gane, a management consultant; Joseph Osei Yeboah, who contested in the 2016 elections and Kofi Koranteng, an investment banker are the key independent presidential candidates.

In August, Coalition of Independent Political Aspirants selected Mr Koranteng to lead them into the polls.

The EC has set a GH¢100,000 amount as the filing fee for the presidential nominations.

Many political analysts are predicting that the filing fee will compel many presidential aspirants to backtrack, this would then bring the number of aspirants on the 2020 presidential ballot paper down further.