Ghana: Small parties may hold 2012 election balance of power

If, as seems likely, the December 2012 presidential election goes to a runoff - between the National Democratic Congress' (NDC) incumbent John Mills and the opposition NPP's Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo Addo - then the disorganised and mainly leftist smaller parties could be important in deciding the outcome. This is why the two are energetically wooing them and why the NDC, which has many Nkrumahists in its ranks, probably has an advantage.

The oldest, but no longer the largest, Nkrumahist party is the Convention People's Party (CPP) which is chaired by Samia Nkrumah who is the daughter of Ghana's founding president, Kwame Nkrumah. Samia is the party's only MP and complains that it is disorganised: 'But, somehow, having an election every four years limits our ambitions.'

She is supported by Dr Agyeman Badu Akosa but they have now clashed with the party's former presidential candidate Paa Kwesi Nduom (see story below). He flounced out of the party on 27th December and is starting a new one on whose ticket he will run for the presidency. This year he may use his own considerable funds to support over fifty aspiring MPs.

The other Nkrumahist party, the People's National Convention (PNC), has four seats in parliament and could hold the balance of power. It is, however, divided between a group led by Somtim Tobiga, and the mainstream faction which includes Edward Mahama and the party's general secretary, Bernard Mornah.

For more news and expert analysis about Ghana, please see Ghana Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates