Rejected Ballots and Democratic Consolidation in Ghana’s Fourth Republic

Abstract

Following the successful conduct of the 2008 general elections that led to a peaceful transfer of power from the ruling party to the opposition, Ghana's respect and democratic credentials in Africa and among the international community has further boosted. The nation has received several commendations for the giant strides made towards democratic consolidation. Given the high incidence of rejected ballot papers that however characterizes the conduct of elections in Ghana, it is feared that the giant strides being made towards democratic consolidation may suffer severe set back. At the minimum, democracy is consolidated when elections are periodically held for the people to express their choice as to who should represent and lead them.This paper discusses the incidence of rejected ballots in Ghana since 1992 and argues that the high incidence of rejected ballots that have so far characterized elections in Ghana if not checked, poses a severe threat to the realization of the minimum requirement for democratic consolidation in Ghana. The study also discusses several measures that must be put in place to reduce the phenomenon in a manner that would ensure that the will of the people are clearly expressed and known after the conduct of elections.