The need for State institutions to promote good governance is now a necessary condition for consolidating new democracies. However, achieving this objective represents a daunting challenge for the emerging constitutional bodies in Ghana. This article examines the Electoral Commission’s (EC) efforts at institutionalizing good governance in the management of the electoral process. Against the backdrop of failed electoral processes in most African countries, the EC has organized four successful general elections with marginal errors. The most distinguishing factors accounting for the EC’s success were largely, but not exclusively, making the electoral process transparent, fostering agreement on the rules of the game and asserting its autonomy in relation to the performance of its mandate. What still needs to be done is electoral reform to overcome challenges posed by delayed adjudication of post-election disputes and executive financial control of the EC. This will require the creation of an electoral court to deal swiftly and impartially with election disputes and a special electoral fund to insulate the EC from financial manipulations on the part of the government. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. [Journal abstract]
