General elections were held in the
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
on 8 February 1951. Although elections had been held for the Legislative Council since 1925, the Council did not have complete control over the legislation, and the voting franchise was limited to residents of urban areas meeting property requirements and the councils of chiefs. The 1951 elections were the first in
Africa
Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...
to be held under
universal suffrage
Universal suffrage (also called universal franchise, general suffrage, and common suffrage of the common man) gives the right to vote to all adult citizens, regardless of wealth, income, gender, social status, race, ethnicity, or political stanc ...
.
Background
Amongst growing calls for self-governance, such as the
1948 Accra Riots and unrest (which led to the arrest of the
Big Six), the
Coussey Committee was commissioned by the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...
government. Its report led to the 1951 constitution, which gave the Executive Council an African majority, and created an 84-member Legislative Assembly, 38 of whom were to be elected by the people, 37 representing territorial councils, six appointed to represent commercial interests and three ''ex officio'' members appointed by the Governor. Those representing commercial interests and appointed by the Governor were all white.
Campaign
A total of 117 candidates contested the 38 elected seats. The
Convention People's Party
The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UG ...
(CPP) contested every seat, while the
United Gold Coast Convention
The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was a political party founded in 1947 whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leade ...
and
National Democratic Party provided its main opposition. There were also several independent candidates, as well as the Asante Kotoko party. General Secretary of the CPP,
Kojo Botsio, won the Winneba seat unopposed, the only candidate to do so.
Nkrumah's aide and later Finance Minister
Komla Agbeli Gbedemah
Komla Agbeli Gbedemah (17 June 1913 – 11 July 1998) was a Ghanaian politician and Minister for Finance in Ghana's Nkrumah government between 1954 and 1961. Known popularly as "Afro Gbede", he was an indigene of Anyako in the Volta Region of Gh ...
is credited with organising the entire campaign while Nkrumah was still in Fort James prison, detained by the colonial government. Nkrumah duly won the Accra Central Municipal seat.
Results
Kwame Nkrumah's
Convention People's Party
The Convention People's Party (CPP) is a socialist political party in Ghana based on the ideas of the first President of Ghana, Kwame Nkrumah. The CPP was formed in June 1949 after Nkrumah broke away from the United Gold Coast Convention (UG ...
won 34 of the 38 elected seats in the assembly, claiming all five seats and nearly 95% of the vote in urban areas; Nkrumah himself winning the Accra Central seat with 22,780 of the 23,122 votes cast. In rural areas the CPP won 29 of the 33 seats, taking around 72% of the vote.
The main opposition, the
United Gold Coast Convention
The United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC) was a political party founded in 1947 whose aim was to bring about Ghanaian independence from their British colonial masters after the Second World War. The United Gold Coast Convention appointed its leade ...
, fared badly, winning only two seats, and was disbanded following the elections. Former members of the UGCC went on to form the
Ghana Congress Party
The Ghana Congress Party was founded in May 1952 by Kofi Busia who also its leader. The party was formed by dissatisfied former Convention People's Party members, along with the United Gold Coast Convention
The United Gold Coast Convention (UG ...
(which later became the
United Party). The other parties were unsuccessful.
The CPP was also supported in the Assembly by 22 of the indirectly elected members, and thus held 56 of the 84 seats.
[McGinnis, M.D. (1999]
Polycentric Governance and Development: Readings from the Workshop
/ref>
Aftermath
After winning the Accra Central seat, Nkrumah was released from prison, and was appointed "Leader of Government Business",[Botwe-Asamoah, K. (2005]
Kwame Nkrumah's Politico-Cultural Thought and Policies
/ref> before becoming the country's first Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
the following year after a constitutional amendment.
Another new constitution was promulgated in 1954, followed by elections
An election is a formal group decision-making process by which a population chooses an individual or multiple individuals to hold Public administration, public office.
Elections have been the usual mechanism by which modern representative ...
the same year, also won by the CPP. Following another convincing election victory by Nkrumah's party in 1956, Gold Coast became the first sub-Saharan Africa
Sub-Saharan Africa is, geographically, the area and regions of the continent of Africa that lies south of the Sahara. These include West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa, and Southern Africa. Geopolitically, in addition to the List of sov ...
n state to gain independence (aside from apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...
) on 6 March 1957, changing its name to Ghana
Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...
.
See also
*
References
{{Ghanaian elections
Elections in Ghana
Gold Coast
Gold Coast may refer to:
Places Africa
* Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana:
** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642)
** Dutch G ...
1951 in Gold Coast (British colony)
1951 elections in the British Empire
February 1951 events in Africa
Election and referendum articles with incomplete results