Dr Charles Mensa — Chairman of IEA
Majority of Ghanaians prefer the election of Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives (MMDCEs) over other methods of filling the position.
The citizenry also prefer the election of MMDCEs on a non-partisan basis, the findings of a poll by the Institute of Economic Affairs (IEA) have revealed.
The poll, conducted in all 16 regions of Ghana between August 15 and August 26, 2025, suggested that most of the people polled seem to lack confidence in political parties when it came to local-level elections.
Context
President John Dramani Mahama recently made a call for the election of MMDCEs on a non-partisan basis in line with the promise in the National Democratic Congress (NDC) 2024 Resetting Ghana Manifesto.
There was an attempt in 2019 to amend Articles 55(3) and 243(1) to respectively allow for political party participation in local-level elections and to make the position of MMDCEs an elective one.
This was, however, discontinued due to ‘a lack of broad national consensus.’
IEA poll
The poll revealed that almost seven out of 10 Ghanaians (69.6 per cent) know how MMDCEs get into office, with a significant majority of Ghanaians (67.9 per cent) preferring that MMDCEs be elected to office.
“On the mode of election, more than six out of every 10 Ghanaians (63.5 per cent) prefer the election of MMDCEs on a non-partisan basis.”
It said there was a high level of awareness among citizens on how MMDCEs get into office.
The findings also highlighted a high level of public awareness about the current appointment process, effectively addressing any lingering questions about how MMDCEs assume office.
“Despite this high level of awareness, the 30.4 per cent respondents who lack knowledge of the current process is significant enough to require civic education on the subject,” it noted.
Non-partisan
It said while debates persisted about whether MMDCEs should be elected on a partisan or non-partisan basis, the poll asked respondents: assuming MMDCEs are to be elected, what approach should Ghana adopt because political party participation was currently prohibited in all local-level elections?
“The results showed a preference for the non-partisan election of MMDCEs, with a significant majority of 63.5 per cent of respondents indicating their support for non-partisan elections.”
“A minority of 36.5 per cent, however, indicated their support for either partisan elections (34.7 per cent) or other forms of election (1.8 per cent).
This majority preference for the non-partisan election of MMDCEs seems to suggest a lack of trust for political parties in local-level elections,” it stated.
