ABSTRACT
As soon as it became clear that the August elections had resulted in an overwhelming victory for the Progress Party, Busia was called upon to form a government, and his principal opponents, the National Alliance of Liberals, constituted the main Opposition in the new parliament. In human terms, the elections resulted in a dramatic reversal of political fortunes. Those detained under Nkrumah, such as R. R. Amponsah, W. E. Ofori Attah, Victor Owusu, Kwesi Lamptey and S. D. Dombo, became Ministers, 1 while former Ministers such as Gbedemah and C. T. Nylander became members of the Opposition. Such a reversal of the roles of the pre-coup dramatis personnae was remarkable in itself, but the elections also altered for a time the careers of many young middle-class intellectuals who, even in their most Utopian dreams, had not thought of a political career under the Nkrumah regime. Five political parties, out of a total of more than twenty which had emerged by 1 May 1969, participated in the elections after being registered by the Electoral Commissioner: the Progress Party, the National Alliance of Liberals, the United Nationalist Party, the People's Action Party, and the All People's Republican Party; of these, only P.P. and N.A.L. were of major significance. 2
