THE trial concerning the alleged manipulation of Guyana’s 2020 General and Regional Elections continued on Thursday with former Minister of Home Affairs and Guyana Elections Commission Commissioner Robeson Benn taking the stand.
When the matter was called before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty, the prosecution called the minister to the stand.
During his testimony, Benn recounted several things, including the attempt by Clairmont Mingo to declare the results for Region Four while at the Ashmin’s Building.
Benn told the court that while this was occurring, he, along with many others, had raised objections to the declaration being made, even as he was unable to hear exactly what Mingo was reading out at the time.
His testimony further continued on to what he recounted several months after, in the lead-up to the recount process.
The hearing is expected to continue today.
Those charged include former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers; former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo; former Health Minister Volda Lawrence; and People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Carol Smith-Joseph.
The list also includes former Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
The defendants collectively face 19 charges, including conspiracy to defraud and misconduct in public office. Each has entered a plea of not guilty and was released on significant cash bail.
Since the allegations arise from the same set of events, the cases have been consolidated for trial, which is expected to continue throughout the week.
The prosecution maintains that each accused played a “critical role” in attempting to inflate votes for the A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance For Change (APNU+AFC) coalition and reduce votes for the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C).
Following the contentious March 2, 2020 elections, Guyana’s judiciary was inundated with applications and appeals from various political actors over the electoral process.
The dispute lasted five months, culminating in a national recount overseen by GECOM and a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) delegation.
The recount confirmed the PPP/C’s victory, with 233,336 votes compared to 217,920 for the APNU+AFC, leading to the swearing in of President, Dr Irfaan Ali on August 2, 2020.
The initial results, announced by former CEO Lowenfield, had controversially declared an APNU+AFC victory, reporting 171,825 votes for the coalition and 166,343 for the PPP/C.
In the aftermath, criminal charges were filed against the defendants, and GECOM terminated the contracts of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo in August 2021 after the allegations of fraud surfaced.
The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections have found that there was 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.
