–recalls Minister McCoy shouting, ‘They are rigging this election!’ as she and other observers raised objections to the use of spreadsheets

MINISTER of Local Government and Regional Development Sonia Parag was the first key witness to take the stand in the long-awaited trial concerning the alleged fraud during Guyana’s 2020 General and Regional Elections.

The trial of those accused of conspiring to defraud the electorate of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes commenced Monday morning before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.

Charged are People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) activist Carol Smith-Joseph; former Health Minister under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.

Together, they are facing 19 conspiracy charges. All of them were present in court, except Miller, who appeared virtually via Zoom from the USA, where she is caring for a sick family member.

It is alleged that between March 2, 2020 and August 2, 2020, Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo, while in Georgetown, conspired with the other six defendants and others, to defraud the electorate of Guyana by declaring a false account of the votes cast at the highly contentious elections.

During her lengthy testimony, Minister Parag, who’s also an attorney-at-law, detailed the actions and behaviours of former key GECOM officials, specifically highlighting the alleged misconduct she observed and protested against.
As a Candidate of Poll for the People’s Progressive Party Civic (PPP/C) in the 2020 elections, she testified that she was sent to the GECOM Command Centre at the Ashmins Building on High Street, Georgetown at 08:00 hours on March 3, 2020, along with other foreign and local observers to watch the tabulation of votes for Region/District Four (Demerara-Mahaica), which is Guyana’s largest voting district.

She explained that she was tasked with “comparing numbers” on her party’s Statements of Poll (SOPs) to those that Mingo was calling out during the tabulation process. The tabulation process, according to her, was suspended at 21:00 hours after Mingo complained of being tired.

Minister Parag recounted seeing Miller and Ms. Bowman (only name given) of GECOM when she went back to the Command Centre the next day.

She testified that Myers, the Deputy Chief Election Officer at the time, told her that Miller and Ms. Bowman would continue with the tabulation process. She mentioned that Lawrence was present as well.

ADDING AND DEDUCTING VOTES

Providing evidence of a pattern of purported collaboration and fraudulent activities intended to rig the election results, Parag said: “I objected by saying that the numbers that you [GECOM staff] have, are not the numbers I have. I proceeded to call out loudly the numbers that I had on the Statements of Poll in my possession. But the GECOM staff (name disclosed) paused a bit and continued.”

Minister Parag described hearing whispers from those seated nearby as she continued to voice her objections.

“As the process continued, numbers were being called by the GECOM staff. And again, I compared the numbers to the Statements of Poll I had in my possession and I objected…The numbers being called are adding votes for the APNU+AFC and deducting votes for the PPP/C,” Minister Parag said she shouted.
Parag said that as she was saying this, other people were speaking loudly.

‘THEY ARE RIGGING THIS ELECTION!’

“I said, ‘Why are we using a spreadsheet and not Statements of Poll?'” she went on.

According to her, there was absolutely no response to her query.

She testified having heard Minister of Public Affairs Kwame McCoy yelling, “They are rigging this election!” as she was voicing her concerns.

McCoy was there to observe the tally process as well.

A New and United Guyana (ANUG) delegate Jonathan Yearwood was among those who, according to her, were “shouting and calling for the Statements of Poll to be used” at this time in the “loud eruption of objections”.

Parag said that then Chief Election Officer Lowenfield entered the room, and once more she demanded that SoPs be utilised in the process.

Minister Parag told the court that she remembered Lowenfield saying that the spreadsheets had votes recorded from the SoPs.
As an election observer, she noted that Teni Housty, the then-President of the Bar Association of Guyana, read aloud Section 84 of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA) regarding the use of SoPs, and that she saw Lawrence using a spreadsheet.

Essentially, Section 84 mandates that the Returning Officer determine the total number of votes cast in support of each list, in accordance with the Statements of Poll.

PERSISTENT OBJECTIONS

Minister Parag said that a member of the GECOM staff had left the room and returned with what looked to be a SoP while she persisted in her protest against the use of spreadsheets in the tabulation process.

The witness said that when she was comparing the numbers on her SoPs with those being called by the GECOM workers, she loudly repeated the figures in Lowenfield’s presence.

In her testimony, Parag stated that only 421 of the 879 ballot boxes in District Four were counted, indicating that the tabulation process eventually “slowed down.”

She added that as of March 4, 2020, into the evening, they had reached box 471. She stated that GECOM employees “claimed they were tired and the process was interrupt” at 21:00 hours.

Later on, she said the procedure was continued, but just two boxes were processed.

The minister stated that no tabulation was being done into the early hours of March 5, 2020, and that the process had been stopped altogether at roughly three in the morning.

Parag will continue will continue with his testimony when the court resumes for hearing on Tuesday morning, July 30, 2024 at 09:30 hours.

CRITICAL ROLE

The prosecution team is being led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, and includes King’s Counsel Thomas Astaphan, and Attorney-at-Law Latchmie Rahamat, among others.

The defendants’ lawyers include Ronald Daniels, Eusi Anderson, and Darren Wade.
The evidence for the prosecution includes certified copies of SoPs and Statements of Recount (SoRs), witness statements from at least 80 persons, along with video interviews and other documentation.

Edgar Thomas, the former police commander of Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica), forensic investigator Rawle Nedd, and head of the Diaspora Unit Rosalinda Rasul are among those who are expected to testify.

Prosecutor Ramdhani stated, in his opening statement, that each defendant had a “critical role” to play in the wilful endeavour to inflate votes for the APNU+AFC, and deflate votes for the PPP/C.

He submitted that in order to demonstrate the existence of a broad conspiracy, he will provide proof beyond a reasonable doubt.

According to Ramdhani’s submission, he would present evidence demonstrating that Mingo made a fraudulent declaration that was even placed on GECOM’s website, along with the part the other defendants played in assisting with the effort to rig the elections in the APNU+AFC’s favour.

The SoPs will be produced before the court to have their legitimacy confirmed.

BACKGROUND

The APNU+AFC Coalition received 171,825 votes, while the PPP/C received 166,343 votes, according to former CEO Lowenfield’s election report.

It was evident from the official findings of the recount process, which was supervised by GECOM and a high-level Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team that the coalition had received 217,920 votes, while the PPP/C had received 233,336 votes, which was enough to win.

In order to help the APNU+AFC caretaker administration stay in power, Mingo and the other defendants, allegedly inflated the results in Region Four, as the recount process also revealed.

In August 2021, GECOM made the decision to sack Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo.

Following the filing of charges against the defendants in late 2020, there had been multiple delays in the start of the trial, primarily due to requests from the defence.

Polls closed on March 2, 2020 at 18:00 hours, and five months after, on August 2, 2020, GECOM announced the official results of the elections.