Elections for the Legislative Assembly

Parliament of Ghana

The Parliament of Ghana is the legislative body of the Ghanaian government.-History:Legislative representation in Ghana dates back to 1850, when the country was a British colony. The body, called the Legislative Council, was purely advisory as the Governor exercised all legislative and executive...

were held for the second time in the Gold Coast

Gold Coast (British colony)

The Gold Coast was a British colony on the Gulf of Guinea in west Africa that became the independent nation of Ghana in 1957.-Overview:The first Europeans to arrive at the coast were the Portuguese in 1471. They encountered a variety of African kingdoms, some of which controlled substantial...

 on 15 June 1954. They were won by Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah

Kwame Nkrumah was the leader of Ghana and its predecessor state, the Gold Coast, from 1952 to 1966. Overseeing the nation's independence from British colonial rule in 1957, Nkrumah was the first President of Ghana and the first Prime Minister of Ghana...

's Convention People's Party

Convention People's Party

The Convention People's Party is a socialist political party in Ghana, based on the ideas of former President Kwame Nkrumah.The CPP was formed in 1949 by Kwame Nkrumah to campaign for the independence of the Gold Coast. It ruled Ghana from 1957 to 1966...

, which took 71 of the 104 seats.

Background

The election was held following the approval of a new constitution on 29 April 1954. The new constitution meant that assembly members were no longer elected by the tribal councils, the Assembly was enlarged, and all members were chosen by direct election from equal, single-member constituencies. It established a cabinet composed of African ministers, and only defense and foreign policy remained in the hands of the governor; the elected assembly was given control over the majority of internal affairs.

Results

Party	Seats
Convention People's Party Convention People's Party The Convention People's Party is a socialist political party in Ghana, based on the ideas of former President Kwame Nkrumah.The CPP was formed in 1949 by Kwame Nkrumah to campaign for the independence of the Gold Coast. It ruled Ghana from 1957 to 1966...	71
Northern People's Party Northern People's Party The Northern People's Party was a political party in the Gold Coast which aimed to protect the interests of those in the Northern region of Ghana....	12
Togoland Congress Togoland Congress The Togoland Congress was a political party formed in 1951 to campaign for the unification of the Ewe people in British Togoland and French Togoland as a separate Ewe state. The party was defeated in the May 1956 UN plebiscite in British Togoland, which resulted in the unification of British...	2
Ghana Congress Party Ghana Congress Party The Ghana Congress Party was founded in May 1952 by Kofi Busia who also its leader. The party was formed by dissatisfied former Convention People's Party members and and others from the United Gold Coast Convention , which was disbanded after a poor performance in the 1951 elections. The party...	1
Muslim Association Party Muslim Association Party The Muslim Association Party was a political party in the Gold Coast, active from 1954 to 1957.The MAP grew out of the Gold Coast Muslim Association, which was established as a welfare and social association in 1932. Involved in politics by the early 1950s, it became the Muslim Association Party...	1
Anlo Youth Association Anlo Youth Organisation The Anlo Youth Organisation was a political party that existed in the Gold Coast and later Ghana. It campaigned for the Ewe people under British rule to stay within Ghana after independence...	1
Independents Independent (politician) In politics, an independent or non-party politician is an individual not affiliated to any political party. Independents may hold a centrist viewpoint between those of major political parties, a viewpoint more extreme than any major party, or they may have a viewpoint based on issues that they do...	16
Total	104
Source: African Elections database

Aftermath

In May 1956, Nkrumah's government issued a white paper containing proposals for Gold Coast independence. The British Government stated it would agree to a firm date for independence if a reasonable majority for such a step were obtained in the Gold Coast Legislative Assembly after a general election. This election

Gold Coast legislative election, 1956

Elections for the Legislative Assembly were held in the Gold Coast on 17 July 1956. They were won by Kwame Nkrumah's Convention People's Party, which took 71 of the 104 seats.There were around 1,390,000 registered voters...

 was held in July 1956, and resulted in another win for the CPP. Gold Coast became the independent nation of Ghana

Ghana

Ghana , officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country located in West Africa. It is bordered by Côte d'Ivoire to the west, Burkina Faso to the north, Togo to the east, and the Gulf of Guinea to the south...

on 6 March 1957.