1979 Ghanaian general election|
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Presidential election |
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Results by region |
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Parliamentary election |
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All 140 seats in Parliament
71 seats needed for a majority |
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This lists parties that won seats. See the complete results below. |
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General elections were held in Ghana on 18 June 1979, with a second round of the presidential election on 9 July 1979. The presidential election resulted in victory for Hilla Limann of the People's National Party, who received 62% of the vote in the run-off,[1] whilst his PNP won 71 of the 140 seats in Parliament. According to one scholar, the elections were conducted "in as free and fair a manner as might be considered humanly possible under local conditions" and the losing candidates publicly accepted defeat.[2] Around 5,070,000 people were registered to vote.[1]
The Electoral Commissioner during the elections was Joseph Kingsley-Nyinah, an Appeal Court Judge who was appointed by the Supreme Military Council (SMC).[3] Although the SMC was overthrown on 4 June 1979, the Armed Forces Revolutionary Council military government which replaced it allowed the elections to proceed just two weeks later.
Results
President
| Candidate | Party | First round | Second round |
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| Votes | % | Votes | % |
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| Hilla Limann | People's National Party | 631,559 | 35.32 | 1,118,305 | 61.98 |
| Victor Owusu | Popular Front Party | 533,928 | 29.86 | 686,097 | 38.02 |
| William Ofori Atta | United National Convention | 311,265 | 17.41 | |
| Frank Bernasko | Action Congress Party | 167,775 | 9.38 | |
| Ibrahim Mahama | Social Democratic Front | 66,445 | 3.72 | |
| John Bilson | Third Force Party | 49,104 | 2.75 | |
| R. P. Baffour | Independent | 8,812 | 0.49 | |
| Kwame Nyanteh | Independent | 8,490 | 0.47 | |
| Mark Diamond Addy | Independent | 5,957 | 0.33 | |
| Imoru Ayarna | Independent | 4,874 | 0.27 | |
| Total | 1,788,209 | 100.00 | 1,804,402 | 100.00 |
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| Registered voters/turnout | 5,070,000 | – | | |
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| Source: Nohlen et al. |
Parliament
Seats won by region
| Party
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Central
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Accra
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Eastern
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Ashanti
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Brong-Ahafo
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Volta
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North
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Upper
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Western
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Total
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| People's National Party |
8 |
6 |
11 |
2 |
2 |
11 |
7 |
15 |
9 |
71
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| Popular Front Party |
0 |
1 |
6 |
19 |
10 |
0 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
42
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| United National Convention |
0 |
3 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
13
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| Action Congress Party |
7 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
10
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| Social Democratic Front |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
0 |
0 |
3
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| Independents |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1
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| Total |
15 |
10 |
21 |
22 |
13 |
16 |
14 |
16 |
13 |
140
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| Source: Jeffries[2]
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See also
References