AS the electoral fraud trial continued on Wednesday, several witnesses were brought to the Ashmin’s Building, which, during the 2020 election was known as the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) command centre, to give the court a clearer view of the events that took place.

The visit, which was led by Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty, occurred after a request was made to the court earlier in the week to have a visit conducted to the site.
That Ashmin’s Building served as a critical part of GECOM’s infrastructure at the time, with many of the witnesses thus far having recounted the events that unfolded there.
Four witnesses, Minister of Local Government and Regional Development Sonia Parag; Rosalinda Rasul; former police commander Edgar Thomas; and Kian Jabour were brought into the building separately and were asked about specific aspects of their testimony they had given thus far in the ongoing trial.

As they were called in, the prosecution led the questioning, which was recorded, while specific accounts and measurements were taken.
Members of the media were permitted into the building; however, no filming or recording was permitted.

Key areas identified by the witnesses included a space that at the time was set up as the tabulation centre/room, along with the position in which former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo allegedly made a declaration of results.

Also, Thomas, during his walk-through of the building, showed the court where he came in while responding to a report and encountered GECOM staffer Enrique Livan.
Meanwhile, Jabour, while giving the court his account of what he recalled, pointed out the room he made his way to in search of GECOM Chairperson Justice (ret’d) Claudette Singh on one of the upper floors of the building.

Special prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani, KC, described the site visit as a significant one, as while they were able to hear oral testimony, with this move they were able to visualize some of what occurred.

He told members of the press that the question of a site visit serves to answer a few questions, which include how far a witness may have been from an individual they saw or identified and further determine whether there was something blocking the view, among other things.

During the 2020 General and Regional Elections, Parag served as a party agent for the PPP/C, Rasul as an observer with the American Chamber of Commerce, Thomas as the Commander of Police Division 4 ‘A’, while Jabour acted as an agent for the ANUG.

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

They are collectively facing 19 conspiracy charges in connection with alleged electoral fraud. All the defendants have been granted cash bail following their not guilty pleas.
It is the prosecution’s case 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 People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C). The prosecution is expected to call approximately 70 witnesses.

Subsequent to Polling Day on March 2, 2020, the country’s judiciary was besieged with multiple applications and appeals filed by various political actors over the electoral process.
This lasted some five months before a national recount of the votes took place which confirmed the PPP/C’s victory at the election and the subsequent swearing in of President Dr. Irfaan Ali on August 2 that year.

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