Understanding the rural–urban voting patterns in the 1992 Ghanaian presidential election. A closer look at the distributional impact of Ghana's Structural Adjustment Programme

In: The journal of modern African studies: a quarterly survey of politics, economics & related topics in contemporary Africa, Band 36, Heft 1, S. 47-70

Abstract

This article attempts to explain the rural–urban voting patterns
in the
1992 Ghanaian presidential election. In this election, rural voters voted

overwhelmingly for the incumbent and urban voters did the opposite.
It is argued that Ghana's Structural Adjustment Programme (1983–92)

was distributionally favourable to rural households and unfavourable
to urban households. A link is therefore drawn between the
distributional impacts of the Structural Adjustment Programme and
the voting patterns of rural and urban households.The relationship between the state of the economy and the fortunes
of political parties at the polls is one which has generated a lot of
debate. This debate has largely taken place within the confines of
Western democracies, not least because of the absence of Western-style

democracy in many developing countries. We are, however, seeing a
movement towards 'democracy' in many developing countries,
with
pressures for economic liberalisation going hand in glove with those for

political liberalisation. The increasing democratisation by many
African countries undertaking Structural Adjustment Programmes
provides us with an opportunity to investigate the relationships
between the welfare implications of these programmes and the voting
behaviour of the electorate. Is voting behaviour in Africa any different

from that in Western democracies?