THE trial in the 2020 elections fraud matter continued on Thursday before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, with the voir dire proceeding as the court examines whether videos of police interrogation involving former Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo, should be admitted into evidence.

 

These recordings form part of the prosecution’s intended evidence in the main trial.

When the matter last came up on October 31, the prosecution was still presenting its case. Since then, the prosecution has closed its evidence, and the defence has begun leading its own.

 

On Tuesday, Mingo took the witness stand to testify in the voir dire. The hearing continued on Thursday with testimony from attorney-at-law Darren Wade, one of the defence attorneys.

 

As per legal restrictions, the media cannot report on the substance of a voir dire, since publishing such details could prejudice the fairness of the ongoing trial.

Before the proceedings began, Magistrate McGusty reminded reporters of the limits on what could lawfully be reported.

 

The defence is objecting to the inclusion of the video-recorded interviews, prompting the court to conduct a series of voir dire hearings—special mini-hearings held separate from the main proceedings. Unlike the ordinary trial, which focuses on the charges and evidence as a whole, a voir dire deals exclusively with the disputed evidence.

During this process, the Magistrate temporarily pauses the main trial to hear arguments, testimony, and legal submissions on whether the recordings were lawfully obtained and whether they meet the evidentiary standards required for admission.

 

Once the arguments conclude, the Magistrate will rule on whether each recording is admissible at trial. The case is expected to resume on Friday.

The trial concerns allegations of electoral fraud arising from the disputed General and Regional Elections held on March 2, 2020.

 

Those facing charges include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister under the previous A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; and People’s National Congress Reform (PNC/R) member, Carol Smith-Joseph.

Also on trial are former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.

 

The defendants are represented by a robust defence team.

Collectively, the defendants face 19 charges ranging from conspiracy to defraud to misconduct in public office.

Due to the charges arising from the same set of circumstances, the matters have been consolidated. Each defendant has pleaded not guilty to the charges and secured their release by posting significant cash bail.

 

The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhanie, argued that each defendant played a “critical role” in the deliberate effort to inflate votes for the APNU+AFC and reduce votes for the Peoples Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).

In the weeks that followed the contentious March 2, 2020, vote, Guyana’s judiciary was inundated with multiple applications and appeals filed by various political actors over the electoral process.

 

The saga lasted five months before a national recount, led by GECOM and a delegation from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), confirmed the PPP/C’s victory and ultimately led to the swearing-in of President Dr. Irfaan Ali on August 2, 2020.

 

The recount confirmed that the PPP/C won the elections with 233,336 votes against the APNU+AFC coalition’s 217,920.

The initial elections results, announced by former CEO Lowenfield, claimed an APNU+AFC victory.

 

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

 

Following the PPP/C’s return to office in August 2020, criminal charges were filed against the defendants.

 

GECOM made the decision to terminate the contracts of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo in August 2021, after the allegations of fraud came to light.

 

The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections have found that there were collusion and collaboration between 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 of the Judiciary, Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith made these findings based on evidence from the many witnesses who testified along with the reports of the international observers.

 

“…our inquiry reveals that there were, in fact, shockingly brazen attempts by Lowenfield, Myers and 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,” they said in their report.