The Symbolism of Ghanaian Political Parties and Their Impact on the Electorates

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2012-12-04
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Abstract
Political Parties in Ghana under the fourth republic were formed a little over two decades ago to participate fully in national elections and to promote democracy for the people. These registered political parties have paraphernalia that contain symbols and colours which identify them distinctively. A preliminary survey revealed that some electorates, party members and sympathizers of CPP, NDC, NPP, and PNC joined these political parties without getting to know and understand the ideologies and symbolic meanings of the parties’ symbols and colours. The research, therefore, sought to answer the questions regarding the identification of the registered political parties, the symbolism of the party symbols and colours and the impact of the symbols and colours on decision making of the electorates in general elections. The researcher used both the qualitative and quantitative research methods to collect and analyse data with questionnaire, non-structured interviews and participant observations. The study found that every political party has a distinct symbol and colours but many electorates have no idea of their symbolisms basis although the study respondents attested to the fact that symbols and colours play crucial roles in the activities of the political parties and general elections in Ghana. They indicated that symbols and colours ginger many followers to participate in party activities; draw or motivate their party supporters’ to party activities. The major findings include the fact that there are commonalities of party colours among the four selected political parties. The study also reveals that many party cohorts do not understand the symbolism of the party symbols and colours. A number of useful suggestions and recommendations have been made for education on the symbolic meanings of the selected political party symbols and colours with their affiliation to the focus of national goal via party functions, local constituency, regional and national levels.
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A Dissertation Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Art Education.
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