Why Dr.Nkrumah and his CPP won the the 1951 general election

Election is the process whereby citizens vote to choose leaders or representatives to manage the affairs of a country.

First election held in Gold Coast was in 1951 when the Colonial government realized that they need to organize election in order to choose African to represent the indigenous as the Watson Commission recommended.

The election was held on 28th February,1951. The Convention People’s people Party (CPP) with their leader Dr. Kwame Nkrumah won it over their rivals UGCC as a results of the following

1.The Nature of the party.The party being mass party help them to win the election because it membership is open to every citizen in the country.And they were having offices all over the country.The UGCC was an elite party and it membership is taken into consideration that is if you have attained a certain status in the country you cant join so it members were only rich,educated etc .

2.The popularity of Nkrumah.Even when Nkrumah was in prison he won the election being famous in the country.When Nkrumah was excluded in the Coussey committee, he took advantage of it to tour all the country and campaign with his propaganda machinery properly which makes him well known by the indigenous

3.The motto of the party that is “self government now” encourage the electorate to vote for the party.The Gold Coasters preferred their slogan and their tool to end colonization as compelled to UGCC “self government within a shortest possible time”.They believe that if they vote for the CPP,gaining independence will be early than the UGCC

4.Some members of the party aided the succes of the party. When Nkrumah was in prison,Kojo Botsio, K A Gbedemah, Krobo Edusei among others spread the good ideologies of the party which made the it attractive to everybody in the colony

The parties that contested were

United Gold Coast Convention-J B Danquah

Convention People’s Party-Kwame Nkrumah

Independent Candidate