A party primary is an election held inside a political party to choose the person who will carry that party's flag in a general election. People who want to contest pick up nomination forms, the party screens them, the approved ones campaign among party members, and members vote. Whoever wins under the party's rules becomes the party's candidate.

But that is not the end of the road. Being a party's candidate and being a candidate on the ballot are two different things. The winner must still be nominated to the Electoral Commission, and must meet the qualifications the Constitution sets for the office. 

WHY THIS MATTERS TO YOU

By the time a general election comes, most of your choices have already been made for you. The primaries decide which names you get to choose between. In a constituency where one party has long dominated, the primary is “effectively the election”, and it is usually decided by a fraction of the people who will later vote in a general election.

Knowing how primaries work also lets you place a claim. An aspirant is not a candidate.  A candidate is not a winner. An internal election is not the national election 

THE RULES BEHIND THE RULES

People often assume a political party can run its internal affairs however it likes, because it is a private organisation. That is not the Ghanaian position.

Article 55(5) of the 1992 Constitution says: "The internal organization of a political party shall conform to democratic principles and its actions and purposes shall not contravene or be inconsistent with this Constitution or any other law." A party's own constitution has to live inside that rule. This is why a party's internal arrangements can be taken to court - and in 2026 they were. 

Two more provisions are worth knowing. Under Article 55(7), a party must file its constitution and the particulars of its national and regional officers with the Electoral Commission in order to be registered. A party's constitution is therefore not a secret document. And under Article 55(8), a party cannot have as a founding member, a leader or a member of its executive, a person who is not qualified to be elected a Member of Parliament.

Parties are also regulated by the Political Parties Act, 2000 (Act 574). One provision matters for what follows: section 17(2) requires that the election of a party's national, regional and constituency executive officers be conducted under the supervision of the Electoral Commission.

THE STAGES

Stage 1: The party opens the process

The party announces when and where the primary will be held and publishes the rules: who may contest, who may vote, what the nomination and filing fees are, and how voting will be conducted.

Those fees are set by the party itself, not by any law. That is why they differ from party to party and from one contest to another, and why they are so often argued about.

Stage 2: Aspirants file their nominations

People who want to contest buy and submit nomination forms. An aspirant is a person seeking to become the party's candidate. They are not the candidate, and saying so is one of the commonest errors in political reporting.

Stage 3: Two different screens

The party vets the aspirants against its own rules - party membership, dues, length of membership, endorsements, and whatever else its constitution requires. Only approved aspirants go forward.

Running alongside that, and outside the party's control, is the law. A parliamentary aspirant must satisfy Article 94 of the Constitution: a citizen of Ghana, at least twenty-one years old, and a registered voter, among other requirements. Article 94 also disqualifies certain people, including anyone who owes allegiance to another country or has been declared bankrupt, and makes serving members of the Police Service, Prisons Service and Armed Forces, and chiefs, ineligible. For the presidency, Article 62 adds that a person must be a citizen of Ghana by birth, at least forty years old, and otherwise qualified to be elected a Member of Parliament.

Passing the party's vetting does not make a person legally qualified for the office. A party cannot vote away a constitutional disqualification.

Stage 4: Campaigning

Approved aspirants campaign among the people entitled to vote in the primary, setting out their plans, their record and their case for the nomination.

Stage 5: Voting

Party members vote under the party's rules. Who exactly is entitled to vote is the part of this process which experienced legal challenges in 2026.

Stage 6: Counting and declaration

For the major parties' presidential and parliamentary primaries the Electoral Commission normally conducts the ballot and declares the result: it supervises the voting, counting and declaration of winning candidates. 

Stage 7: Nomination to the Electoral Commission

This is the step most explainers leave out, and it is the one that actually puts a name on a ballot paper.

Winning a primary makes someone the party's candidate. To become a candidate in the general election, that person must be nominated to the Electoral Commission within the EC's timetable, on the EC's forms, meeting the requirements set out in the Constitution and in the Constitutional Instrument governing that election. The EC can reject a nomination that does not meet the requirements.

Until the EC's nomination process has closed and the candidate appears on the EC's list, a primary winner is a party's candidate but not yet a candidate on the ballot.

Stage 8: The general election

The Electoral Commission conducts the general election, in which the party's candidate faces the candidates of other parties and any independent candidates. This is the contest that decides who becomes your MP or president..

The 2026 Supreme Court Decision on the Party Delegates System

On 29 July 2026 the Supreme Court, sitting as a seven-member panel, decided by a majority of five to two that the delegate-based electoral college system used by political parties to choose their leaders and candidates is unconstitutional. The case was brought by Prof. Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Dr Nyaho Nyaho-Tamakloe and Dr Christine Amoako-Nuamah. The Chief Justice, Paul Baffoe-Bonnie, wrote for the majority. Justices Samuel Kwame Adibu-Asiedu and Ernest Yao Gaewu dissented.

The Court held that all registered members of a party in good standing are entitled to vote in choosing the party's leaders and candidates - the principle usually described as one member, one vote.

The reasoning goes to the heart of why this matters for disinformation and for money in politics. Where a small group of delegates holds decisive power, as the Chief Justice put it, "Concentrating decisive electoral power in a relatively small body of delegates inevitably increases the value of each delegate's vote." A smaller electorate is a more easily identified electorate, and a more easily bought one. Opening the vote to the whole membership may raise campaign costs, but it spreads the decision across thousands of people rather than a few hundred.

What the Court ordered:

  • Political parties must put in place a system allowing all registered members in good standing to vote in selecting presidential and parliamentary candidates, not later than one year from the judgment.

  • The Electoral Commission has a role in ensuring that party constitutions comply with the Constitution and the law.

Now the three things this ruling does NOT mean:

  • It does not mean every delegate-based primary held today is illegal. Parties were given until 29 July 2027 to amend their constitutions and build a compliant system. During that transition period a party may still be operating its old rules.

  • It does not undo past contests. Elections already held under the delegate system remain valid. Nobody's MP was retrospectively removed from office.

  • It was not aimed at any individual politician or any single party. It applies to all parties operating such a system.

THE LIES THIS PROTECTS YOU FROM

1. "He has declared, so he is the party's candidate"

The claim you'll see: A politician announces that he will contest, and is immediately described online as the party's candidate.

What's actually true: Declaring an intention is the first step of many. The person is an aspirant until the party's members vote and the party declares a winner.

Why it spreads: An announcement is loud and early; the process that follows is slow and quiet. People remember the announcement.

2. "Winning the primary means winning the election"

The claim you'll see: A primary winner is congratulated as the next MP or the next President.

What's actually true: Winning a primary makes a person the party's candidate. They must still be nominated to the Electoral Commission, and must still win the general election against every other party's candidate.

Why it spreads: The two contests look alike - same faces, same colours, same celebrations - but they are decided by completely different electorates.

3. "Here are the results"

The claim you'll see: Figures, a photographed tally sheet, or a screenshot circulating while voting is still going on or before the party has declared anything.

What's actually true: The only result that counts is the official declaration - from the Electoral Commission where it is conducting the contest. Anything before that is a claim. 

Why it spreads: Early numbers feel like inside knowledge, and whoever posts first gets the attention. Being wrong later costs nothing.

6. Misreading the 2026 Supreme Court ruling

The claim you'll see: That every delegate primary is now illegal, or that the ruling was aimed at a particular party officer.

What's actually true: None of those. Parties have until 29 July 2027 to comply, past contests remain valid, and the judgment applies to all parties operating such a system rather than targeting an individual. Dubawa Ghana has already rated as misleading a claim that the ruling was a bold move against a named party chairman.

Why it spreads: A real judgment sits underneath the claim, so it survives a quick check. Only the framing has been changed - which is what makes this kind of falsehood so durable.

WHAT YOU CAN ACTUALLY DO

  • Name the stage before you share. Is the person an aspirant, a primary winner, a nominated candidate, or an elected office holder?

  • Read the party's constitution and primary guidelines. Party constitutions and officer particulars are filed with the Electoral Commission under Article 55(7).

  • Find out who is entitled to vote in the particular contest, and check whether the party is still running its old rules or has adopted a system compliant with the 2026 ruling. During the transition, both are possible.

  • Wait for the official declaration before believing any result - from the EC where it is conducting the contest, otherwise from the party - and check whether circulating figures are constituency or national.

  • Verify any party letter against the party's own channels and a named officer before sharing it.

  • Check the Electoral Commission's nomination timetable, requirements and published list of candidates. That list, not a primary result, is who is on the ballot.