Elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast 1951

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The elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast in 1951 were held on February 8, 1951 and were the first general election in what was then the British colony of the Gold Coast , now Ghana . Elections to the "Legislative Council" had already taken place here since 1925, but this council did not have full control over the legislation and only the members of the "Council of Chiefs" were entitled to vote.

The elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast in 1951 were the first elections with universal voting rights not only in the Gold Coast, but in Africa in general.

background

Against the background of growing calls for self-government and increasing unrest among the population, the z. B. 1948 had led to the so-called Accra Riots , the British government set up the so-called Coussey Committee . The report of this commission resulted in the 1951 Constitution, which gave the pre-existing Executive Council an African majority and a legislative assembly of 84 members. Thirty-eight members of this assembly were directly elected by the people, 46 through traditional councils.

Results

Kwame Nkrumah's Convention People's Party (CPP) won 34 of the 38 general election seats, including the five urban seats with 95% of the votes cast. Nkrumah himself won the Accra Central seat with 22,780 out of 23,122 votes. In rural areas, the CPP won 29 of the 33 seats, gaining 72% of the vote.

The main opposition party, the United Gold Coast Convention (UGCC), failed thoroughly, only won 2 seats and disbanded after the elections. Former members of the UGCC then founded the Ghana Congress Party (which later formed the United Party ). The National Democratic Party also took part in the election .

The CPP was also supported in the assembly by 22 of the indirectly elected members and thus had 56 out of 84 seats.

Consequences of the elections

Having won his seat in Accra Central, Nkrumah, who had previously been in prison, was released and appointed "Head of Government" before becoming Ghana's first prime minister.

Another new constitution came into effect in 1954, followed by the elections to the Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast in 1954, also won by the CPP. After another overwhelming victory by Nkrumah's CPP in the elections for the Legislative Assembly of the Gold Coast in 1956 , the Gold Coast became the first state in Sub-Saharan Africa to achieve independence on March 6, 1957 under the name of Ghana .

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Timeline: Ghana BBC News, October 23, 2007
  2. ^ Dunlop Roberts, A. (1986) The Cambridge History of Africa
  3. ^ Brown, JM & Roger Louis, WM (1999) The Oxford History of the British Empire
  4. ↑ Kwame Nkrumah's contribution to the decolonization process in Africa ( Memento of the original dated February 2, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Black History Month @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.black-history-month.co.uk
  5. ^ Iliffe, J. (1995) Africans: The History of a Continent
  6. ^ A b McGinnis, MD (1999) Polycentric Governance and Development: Readings from the Workshop
  7. ^ Mason, M. (1997) Development and Disorder: A History of the Third World Since 1945
  8. ↑ Janda, K. (1980) Political Parties: A Cross-National Survey New York: The Free Press
  9. ^ Stockwell, S. (2000) The Business of Decolonization: British Business Strategies in the Gold
  10. ↑ Owusu, RY (2005) Kwame Nkrumah's Liberation Thought: A Paradigm for Religious Advocacy
  11. ↑ Botwe-Asamoah, K. (2005) Kwame Nkrumah's Politico-Cultural Thought and Policies

See also

Web links