–as case moves forward after years of delays; 73 witnesses set to testify

AFTER nearly four years of legal hurdles, the high-profile 2020 electoral fraud trial has officially commenced, with the accused entering not guilty pleas before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty, on Monday.
The case, which has been stalled before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court due to a series of legal challenges and changes in presiding magistrates, is now set to proceed as a summary trial.

Magistrate McGusty’s ruling paved the way for the defendants to now formally enter their pleas as the charges were read to them.
Last December, McGusty granted the defence’s request for a de novo (new) trial, vacating all prior rulings issued by Senior Magistrate Leron Daly, who had overseen the matter since July 29, 2024.
However, her extended medical leave in August 2024 led to the reassignment of the case to a new magistrate.

Among those facing charges are former Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister under the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) activist Carol Smith-Joseph; former Chief Election Officer (CEO) of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings and Michelle Miller.
The defendants are accused of several offences, including misconduct in public office, uttering forged documents and conspiring to deceive the electorate by falsifying election results.
They are represented by a defence team that also includes attorneys Nigel Hughes, Eusi Anderson, Ronald Daniels and Darren Wade.

The state is led by Special prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani, KC and Thomas Astaphan, KC, and also attorney-at-law Latchmie Rahamat and several state counsel from the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions.
In his opening remarks, Special Prosecutor Ramdhani described the case as a “classic case of miscount,” outlining how each defendant allegedly contributed to the attempted rigging of the 2020 general and regional elections.
Prosecutors contended that the accused sought to inflate the APNU+AFC coalition’s vote count, thereby undermining the democratic process.
The prosecution’s case is built on substantial evidence, including flash drives containing Statements of Poll (SoPs) and Statements of Recount (SoRs), 73 witness statements, and numerous official documents.
Among the key witnesses expected to testify are Local Government Minister Sonia Parag; Head of the Diaspora Unit, Rosalinda Rasul; Forensic Investigator Rawle Nedd and former Region Four Police Commander, Edgar Thomas.
The matter has been adjourned until Tuesday, February 18, 2025.

The prosecution alleges that the accused inflated or facilitated the inflation of results for Region Four—Guyana’s largest voting district—to give the APNU+AFC coalition an illegitimate victory in the March 2020 elections. Official results later confirmed that the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won by over 15,000 votes.
Initially, former CEO Lowenfield submitted an election report claiming APNU+AFC received 171,825 votes while the PPP/C secured 166,343.
However, a national recount—conducted under the supervision of GECOM and a high-level Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team—determined that APNU+AFC had actually received 217,920 votes, while the PPP/C had won with 233,336 votes.

The recount process also revealed that Mingo had allegedly manipulated the Region Four results to keep the APNU+AFC caretaker administration in power.
This led to GECOM’s decision in August, 2021, to terminate Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo.
Since charges were first filed in late 2020, multiple postponements have stalled the case, primarily due to requests from the defence.
The accused remains out on cash bail as the trial continues.

Initially set to begin in early 2024, the trial has faced numerous delays due to objections and applications from the defence.
In April, 2023, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections found that there was collusion and collaboration among senior GECOM officials to divert votes to the APNU +AFC instead of safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.

Chairman, Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor, Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith — made those findings based on evidence from the many witnesses who had testified, along with the reports of the international observers.
“…our inquiry reveals that there were, in fact, shockingly brazen attempts by Chief Election Officer (CEO), Keith Lowenfield, Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO), Roxanne Myers and Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo, to derail and corrupt the statutorily prescribed procedure for the counting, ascertaining and tabulation of votes of the March 2nd election, as well as the true declaration of the results of that election, and that they did so – to put it in unvarnished language of the ordinary man – for the purpose of stealing the election,” the commissioners said in their report.
The report found that Lowenfield blatantly made decisions and employed procedures in direct contradiction to the law and the will of the people.

The findings revealed, too, that GECOM staffers ignored specific instructions from the court, used materials that were illegal and/or manipulated and sided with APNU+AFC agents to berate observers whenever objections were raised.
After careful scrutiny, the CoI commissioners concluded that there was a conscious and deliberate – even brazen – effort to violate the provisions of section 84(1) of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA).
In so doing, certain “senior GECOM officials” abandoned all need for neutrality and impartiality, and demonstrated a bias for the APNU+AFC and, in the course of events over those days, showed an “open connection” with that party, and by their efforts sought a desired result for the coalition.
As such, the commissioners said that after consideration and analysis of the evidence, Lowenfield, Mingo and Myers “were principally responsible for clear and deliberate attempts to frustrate, obstruct and subvert the ascertainment of votes in electoral district No. 4.”