Managing Election- Relation Violence for Democratic Stability in Ghana Thus, the above fit between agency and structure in the political development syndrome and the transformative context apply to the changing political circumstances of Ghana. Ghana returned to constitutional democratic rule in 1992. It has since held five successful general elections in which the power of government has changed hands between the two main parties – the National Democratic Congress(NDC) and the New Patriotic Party(NPP). However, some studies have shown that politicization and polarization of issues along party lines constitute the principal drivers of conflict in Ghana as they infect, distort and magnify all other underlying causal factors of conflict(Draman, Mohammed and Woodrow, 2009). The significance of the Ghanaian experience is that in the same period since 1992, post-election related violence has disrupted political processes in many West African countries. While the chequered political experiences of the other West African countries elevate Ghana to an exemplary status, manifestations of conflict in the Ghanaian political space become a matter of concern not only to Ghanaians and fellow West Africans but also to the international community. This chapter looks at the evolution of partisan politics in Ghana in the context of the different pace of development between the legal-historical environment, the nature and dynamics of political elites and political burden on election candidates, and the changing expectations of the electorate. It argues that much of the progress made in partisan politics under the fourth republican constitutional democracy of Ghana has largely occurred in terms of the consolidation of two political traditions as the main 141