Ghana’s 2000 elections marked an important milestone in the country’s political history. It is a monumental step in the consolidation and deepening of Ghana’s democracy. Ghana’s electoral success and the peaceful alternation of political power from one democratically elected to another led by an opposition party have received praise from home and abroad. And this achievement is seen as a model and source of hope for other countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Many explanations have been given for this electoral achievement, but most of them despondently downplayed the crucial role of domestic election observers. This paper emphasises the contribution of the Coalition of Domestic Election Observers (CODEO). The paper strongly recommends that African countries should emulate the good works of CODEO and make domestic election observation one of the central pillars of the democratisation process.
