1960 Ghanaian presidential election

none July 2023 Ghana presidential 1979 Ghanaian general election 1979 27 April 1960 Kwame Nkrumah (JFKWHP-AR6409-A).jpg Kwame Nkrumah Convention People's Party 1,016,076 89.07% 3x4.svg J. B. Danquah United Party 124,623 10.93% President Kwame Nkrumah Convention People's Party Presidential elections were held for the first time in Ghana on 27 April 1960. The elections were held alongside a referendum on creating a republic with an executive presidency. The winner of the elections would become the country's first president if the new republican constitution was passed, which it did. The conduct of the election was problematic, as the incumbent Nkrumah government used state resources to support Nkrumah, including pressuring civil servants to attend rallies and advertising in media.Cheeseman Nic https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/9781108265126/type/book The Moral Economy of Elections in Africa: Democracy, Voting and Virtue Lynch Gabrielle Willis Justin 2021 Cambridge University Press 978-1-108-26512-6 60 10.1017/9781108265126 Candidates There were only two candidates: Kwame Nkrumah, incumbent prime minister and leader of the Convention People's Party J. B. Danquah, United Party leader and one of the Big Six Results Kwame Nkrumah Convention People's Party 1016076 J. B. Danquah United Party 124623 2098651 African Elections DatabaseAfrican Elections Database Aftermath After winning the election, and the passing of the new constitution in the simultaneous referendum, Nkrumah was inaugurated on 1 July 1960, replacing Governor-General William Hare as head of state. Danquah was imprisoned the following year under the Preventive Detention Act, but only held for a year. On his release, he was elected President of the Ghana Bar Association. He was imprisoned again in 1964 and died in jail. Four years later, another referendum strengthened Nkrumah's powers and turned the country into a one-party state (with an official result of 99.91% in support). References Category:Presidential elections in Ghana Ghana Presidential Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Ghana