Election Day...

“Today is a day that will live on in infamy.” FDR said this in regards to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Yesterday, all day, I had his quote ringing in my ears.

Yesterday was Election Day here in Ghana. The race between the two leading parties has been very close leading up the election and no one, with any certainty, could call the outcome. More than 24 hour later, after all the polls have been closed, the results, unofficial or official have not come out. The winning candidate must have “50 + 1”. This means that, unlike the US, Ghana does not use an electoral college, nor do they simply say whomever has the most votes wins. Here, in order to win you must get at least fifty percent of the voter turnout, plus one more vote to win. In other words you must have a majority of the number of people that voted not just simply more than all of the opponents. If, because there are four major parties here (only two of whom stand a real shot of winning), no one gets “50 + 1” there will be a run off between the top two vote getters. Those are the nuts and bolts of how the election here works, now the more interesting part…

I have been reassured by every Ghanaian that I have spoken with about the election that “it will be peaceful”. On the surface, that is a very nice and calming thought, but it actually has made me more nervous. Never in the US has someone told me, not to worry that the election will be peaceful. It is simply understood that it will be. Here, however, is a different story.

This is a country that has never had a peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected president to another; a country that has JJ Rawlings, a man who started two coups, killed hundreds (maybe thousands), and is still alive, free, and campaigning for one of the front running parties; a country where the UN has been called to monitor the election, a country where people proudly show you the ink on their finger that demarcates the fact that they voted; a country where the people must assure themselves that this will be a peaceful election; a country where people woke up and were in line to vote at 3 am though the polls would not open until 7; a country where the army stationed 30 armed military patrol men inside Accra Girls’ Secondary School (a polling station) for three days to ensure that law and order is maintained; a country that is wrought with corruption; a country that has a literacy rate hovering near fifty percent; a country that has just discovered billions of collars worth of oil; a country that is in the midst of Africa with pirates in Somalia, genocide in Sudan, riots in Nigeria, killings in the Congo, power-sharing in Zimbabwe, and countless other conflicts.

Two days before the election, I was walking around town and everyone was talking about the election. There were political rallies all over and trucks with loud speakers blaring political theme songs and speeches. I have never felt such a strong and lasting tension. That afternoon, with poetic irony, the biggest storm that I have seen since arriving in Africa poured down rain from black clouds all afternoon and most of the night. However, I went out on Election Day to Makola Market, which claims to be the largest market in West Africa, to see and feel the atmosphere. When I got there the place was like a ghost town; no one was there. Today, the day after the election I went out again to the local market, and although there were a few people and shops open, more than half were still closed. All has been entirely peaceful, but there is still much tension in the air. Rumor has it that the results will be released sometime tomorrow. This entire Fulbright experience is neat on many different levels, but to be able witness this election in Ghana is truly an historic event.