Elections 2004 (Results) - Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, Ghana Office

The 2004 Presidential and Parliamentary Elections
PART 3 - THE CONTEST AND THE CONTESTANTS
Under the 1992 Constitution, general elections are held in Ghana every four years, starting from 1992. The 2004
elections were the fourth in the series. The law permits both party-sponsored and independent candidates. One (1)
president and two hundred and thirty (230) parliamentarians were to be elected in the 2004 geneal elections. To be
elected, a parliamentary candidate requires only a plurality of the valid votes (first-past-the-post); a presidential candidate
requires an absolute majority (at least 50% +1).
NOMINATION OF CANDIDATES
Nominations for both the presidential and parliamentary elections were taken on the 21 st and 22 rd of October 2004
by the Returning Officers. Nomination forms are given free of charge, but nomination deposits are twenty million
cedis (¢20,000,.000.00).for a presidential candidate and five hundred thousand cedis (¢500,000.00) for a parliamentary
candidate. A vice-presidential candidate is not nomiated in his/her own right. S/he is selected by a presidential
candidate and s/he is deemed to be nominated once the presidential candidate is nominated. A presidential candidate
who fails to obtain 25% of the votes cast loses the deposit; while a parliamentary candidate must win 121/2 %
of the votes to get the deposit refunded.
By the close of nominations, four (4) candidates had filed for the 2004 Presidential race, and 953 candidates had
filed for the parliamentary elections.Tables (7) and (8) below show the details of the presidential and parliamentary
nominations:
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