The New Patriotic Party (NPP) is the opposition party. The Presidential candidate is Nana Akufo-Addo who was also the NPP Presidential candidate in elections in 2008 where he lost by a margin of no more than 30.000 votes.
The winner in 2008 was John Atta Mills from the National Democratic Congress (NDC). Atta Mills died suddenly in July 2012 after which his Vice-President, John Mahama, took office. John Mahama was later endorsed to be the NDC Presidential candidate for the 7th December 2012 elections in Ghana.
I have witnessed rallies (of sorts) in three places in Africa - Zimbabwe, Sierra Leone, and Ghana.
In Zimbabwe in September 2008 when Mugabe and his opponents from the opposition party Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) signed an agreement (Global Political Agreement/GPA) to enter a unity government. This was an interesting experience that started with the thrill of a spirit of unity where ZANU-PF and MDC supporters were celebrating in the same large crowd in front of the Rainbow Towers in Harare. Until a large group of young men (ZANU-PF supporters) came into the crowd half running and chanting political songs before they started pulling MDC supporters into the group and beating them up (there's a blogpost about that here somewhere).
In Sierra Leone in November 2012 where the opposition party Sierra Leone People's Party (SLPP) held its last rally in Freetown and the whole town turned SLPP green.
On this day I was advised to stay indoors, but managed to go through town in a car on my way to a bank just near the SLPP party headquarters in downtown Freetown. Walking down the street to the bank a large group of young men came towards me running rhytmically and chanting party songs and slogans and banging on every car that didn't move out of their way.
The extremely intense vibe you get from these groups of young men (often holding sticks, banners, vuvuzelas or other items in their hands) is a little scary to me - especially knowing that young men are the most likely perpetrators of violence in any African election. And they bear a striking resemblance to young men I have seen in news reports and documentaries about genocide in Rwanda, war in DRC, election violence in Kenya and other places etc.
Ghana, however, is highlighted as the democratic beacon of West Africa and the country has had successful elections since 1992 and the transfer of power from ruling party to opposition without major incidents of violence (even if violence has occured here and there).
So when I got the opportunity to attend two rallies in Ghana, I wanted to get as close to the action as possible. Especially because I wanted photos.
Even if the threat of violence did not appear to be a major concern - as it was party rallies and everyone is expected to be friends - I was cautioned by everyone else that I wouldn't get out of the rallies with my phone, money, camera or whatever other valuables I was carrying with me to the rally.
Anyway - to cut a long story short, I did go to both rallies, and I came back with all my valuables - and a number of photos. The groups of young men running through the crowds, chanting party songs were mostly good entertainment even if they did sometimes seemed to be a little too interested in getting very close to me and dancing/posing for photos. Two young guys came running up to me at some point and were grabbing my lovehandles and giving me titty twisters in a very hectic way that made me feel very uncomfortable, but they took off after app 30 second and were gone in the crowd. Have no idea what that was all about. But I did serve as a reminder of how fast moods can change and things happen. But all went well - and below are the photos to prove it.
NPP Rally - Children's Park, Accra, Ghana. Wednesday 5th December 2012
NDC Rally - International Trade Fair, Accra, Ghana - Wednesday 5th December 2012
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