Why the US elections matter to Ghanaians

Thousands of kilometres apart, the political, economic and ideological links between Ghanaand the United States make the American elections very important for Ghanaians.Ghana has had a stable political system since 1992, with two dominant parties, the NewPatriotic Party (NPP) and the National Democratic Congress (NDC), alternating power in amanner similar to the Republican and Democratic parties in the United States.Ghanaians have observed a fascinating trend over the years: their election results mirror thosein the United States, particularly in years when ideologically similar parties come to power.The NPP is often aligned with the Republicans, favouring pro-business policies andconservative approaches, and even bearing the same symbol, an elephant, while the NDC isideologically closer to the Democrats, leaning towards welfare policies and progressivereforms.The trend only came to a halt in 2020, when the NPP won in Ghana while the Republicanslost in the United States – a year that many consider to be an aberration and unsuitable foranalysing trends.The elections of 2024 are of particular importance to both countries, as their incumbentvice-presidents, Mahamudu Bawumia in Ghana and Kamala Harris in the US, are running forthe presidency.Both elections also feature former presidents – John Dramani Mahama in Ghana and DonaldTrump in the United States – attempting to regain power.The United States completed its elections on 5 November and Ghanaians are preparing to goto the polls on 7 December.A change in the leadership of the United States often means changes in trade, foreign policyand investment flows, all of which have an impact on the Ghanaian economy.Relations between the US and Ghana, for example, have strengthened under differentadministrations, with US policy decisions affecting areas such as trade, investment, healthand security in Ghana.

A striking difference, however, is that the US elects its president through an electoral collegesystem that requires 270 of the 538 electoral votes, while the Ghanaian winner is determinedby a 50% plus one majority.At the time of writing, Trump has declared himself the winner after winning key battlegroundstates, giving him 267 electoral votes and putting him on the verge of victory.