A Look at the Electoral Campaign in Ghana

by Karin Scott, Global Paradigm Fellow in Ghana
September 24, 2026

Similar to the United States, a new election year approaches in Ghana, and the two main political parties, the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party (NPP), have begun to vie for the votes of the Ghanaian people.  These two parties dominate the political scene and are continually at odds with one other while often making headlines in the many Ghanaian newspapers.

The current president, John Atta Mills, is a member of the NDC. The NDC resembles the Democratic Party of the United States in that it has roots in populism and pursues human-centered market reforms. The NPP is equivalent to the Republican Party in the United States as it seeks to put economic power in the hands of the private sector and has implemented a neo-liberal economic policy over the years.

Though I am not very fluent in Twi, from the laughs and scoffs at the radio broadcasts in the tros tros (what is a tros tros?) and taxis I can tell that the political talk is starting to heat up. When the president is giving an address however, it is given in English because he also does not speak the Twi language. Many Ghanaians despise this fact about him, but I do not mind because it means I can understand what he is saying.

Currently, political discussions include what the government plans on doing with the newly discovered oil, how to lower the high rate of unemployment especially among young Ghanaians, and how to raise the amount of Ghanaian exports and lower the dependence on foreign goods.

The political atmosphere here is very similar to that in the States. The parties are always at odds, political scandals make headlines; some people are very open about their political party memberships while others choose to stay neutral.