Post-COVID-19 Lessons: Reforming Ghana’s Electoral and Emergency Response Laws

Abstract The COVID -19 pandemic posed significant challenges to constitutional governance worldwide, including in Ghana. The potential disruption of the country’s 2020 presidential and parliamentary elections exposed critical vulnerabilities in its constitutional and electoral framework, raising the spectre of an unprecedented governance crisis. These challenges highlight broader deficiencies in Ghana’s legal mechanisms for emergency response. This article examines these deficiencies, including the risk of a legal and political vacuum following the expiration of executive and legislative mandates. The study underscores the urgent need for governance and electoral reforms to address these deficiencies, strengthen the legal framework for emergency situations, and ensure the continuity of government functions during crises.