GENDER AND PWD RESPONSIVENESS OF THE 2024 ELECTION

About this Publication

Ghana held its ninth consecutive presidential and parliamentary elections on December 7, 2024, following a special voting exercise for essential service personnel. The Gender Center for Empowering Development (GenCED), in collaboration with partner organizations, deployed a nationwide Election Observation Mission to monitor the electoral process across voter registration, campaigning, and Election Day activities. The mission observed that while the elections were generally peaceful and well-administered, significant inclusion and accessibility gaps persisted. These included limited assistive tools for persons with disabilities, inadequate representation of women and PWDs among electoral officials, accessibility barriers at polling stations, and challenges in biometric verification affecting some voters. The process was also marked by incidents of discrimination, gender-based violence, and disinformation targeting women, alongside broader concerns about youth representation and electoral inclusivity. Overall, GenCED recommended improvements in electoral organization and voter turnout but highlighted the need for stronger disability inclusion, enhanced gender equity, improved safeguards against violence and misinformation, and reforms by the Electoral Commission, political parties, security agencies, and civil society to ensure more inclusive and credible future elections.