1951 Gold Coast general election

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 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 (CPP) contested every seat, while the United Gold Coast Convention 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 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 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. Former members of the UGCC went on to form the Ghana Congress Party (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.

(direct election)|secondround=Rural areas (electoral colleges)

Aftermath

After winning the Accra Central seat, Nkrumah was released from prison, and was appointed "Leader of Government Business", before becoming the country's first Prime Minister the following year after a constitutional amendment.

Another new constitution was promulgated in 1954, followed by elections 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 African state to gain independence (aside from apartheid South Africa) on 6 March 1957, changing its name to Ghana.

References

References

1. [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-13434226 Timeline: Ghana] BBC News, 23 October 2007
2. Dunlop Roberts, A. (1986) [https://books.google.com/books?id=7XIi3Q74o2sC&dq=%22gold+coast%22+%22legislative+council%22+election&pg=PA439 The Cambridge History of Africa]
3. "The Gold Coast Experiment", ''The Times'', 17 February 1951, p7, Issue 51928
4. (27 January 1951). "Gold Coast Election Nominations". The Times.
5. [https://web.archive.org/web/20070202000000/http://www.black-history-month.co.uk/articles/nkrumah.html Kwame Nkrumah's contribution to the decolonisation process in Africa] Black History Month
6. Iliffe, J. (1995) [https://books.google.com/books?id=dlHE51ScKTUC&dq=gold+coast+election+1951&pg=PA249 Africans: The History of a Continent]
7. The main opposition, the [[United Gold Coast Convention]], fared badly, winning only three seats, and was disbanded following the elections.Janda, K. (1980) [http://janda.org/ICPP/ICPP1980/Book/PART2/8-WestAfrica/81-Ghana/Ghana.htm Political Parties: A Cross-National Survey] New York: The Free Press
8. Stockwell, S. (2000) [https://books.google.com/books?id=V8UZIvVZ8DgC&dq=ugcc+cpp+1951&pg=PA93 The Business of Decolonization: British Business Strategies in the Gold]
9. Owusu, R.Y. (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=sefClvfOzFoC&dq=ugcc+cpp+1951&pg=PA109 Kwame Nkrumah's Liberation Thought: A Paradigm for Religious Advocacy]
10. (4 June 1951). "The Gold Coast on trial: parties and personalities of the new order". The Times.
11. (6 May 1952). "Policy of new Gold Coast party". The Times.
12. McGinnis, M.D. (1999) [https://books.google.com/books?id=MSy_EfhaPAAC&dq=ugcc+cpp+1951&pg=PA202 Polycentric Governance and Development: Readings from the Workshop]
13. [[Dolf Sternberger]], [[Bernhard Vogel (politician). Bernhard Vogel]], [[Dieter Nohlen]] & Klaus Landfried (1969) ''Die Wahl der Parlamente: Band II: Afrika, Erster Halbband'', pp783–784
14. Botwe-Asamoah, K. (2005) [https://books.google.com/books?id=OcTC2eDx5ZsC&dq=gold+coast+election+1951&pg=PA9 Kwame Nkrumah's Politico-Cultural Thought and Policies]