THE 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS IN GHANA FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF HISTORICAL CONTINUITY OF NATIONAL POLITICAL PRACTICES

Medushevsky Nikolay Andreevich, Vishniakov Mikhail Dmitrievich

This article is devoted to the study of the features of the electoral process in the Republic of Ghana. Based on the election results and expert assessments, the authors of the article study the specifics of the electoral behavior of the country's population. Ethnic and religious identity of various groups of the population, as well as the level of economic well-being, are distinguished as factors influencing the voting structure. The authors state that throughout the entire period of functioning of political institutions, including the period of authoritarian rule, the ethnic determinant dominated and determined the support of specific political forces. Despite the normative ban on ethnic parties and manifestations of ethnicity in politics, the nominal party-ethnic group link has survived to this day, which significantly hinders the construction of a homogeneous political environment and brings ethnic contradictions to the level of state policy. Nevertheless, as the study showed, in the 2024 elections, the ethnic factor in voting became only one of the factors of influence, along with religious and especially economic ones. It was the negative economic situation that influenced the unification of more than 50% of the electorate around the candidate from the National Democratic Congress party. At the same time, the current vote of confidence is unstable and its destruction may be facilitated by the failure of the ambitious reform program of the new president.

Keywords:elections, Ghana, D. Rawlings, ethnicity, religious identity