The 2020 elections fraud trial resumed on Friday at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty.

The court is currently conducting a voir dire to determine whether video-recorded police interrogations of former Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo can be admitted as evidence.

When the matter was last called, the defence had already begun leading its case.

On Friday, the voir dire resumed with Mingo back on the witness stand, where defence attorney Nigel Hughes led him into evidence. Following this, the prosecution presented rebuttal evidence by calling a police officer to testify.

The witness was later cross-examined by the defence.

These video interviews form part of the prosecution’s intended evidence for the main trial.

As required by law, the media cannot report on the substance of the voir dire, since disclosing details could prejudice the fairness of the ongoing trial.

Before proceedings commenced, Magistrate McGusty again reminded reporters of the limits on what may be lawfully published.

The defence is challenging the admissibility of the video-recorded interviews, prompting the court to conduct these voir dire hearings — special, separate inquiries focused solely on the disputed evidence.

During this process, the main trial is paused while the court hears testimony and legal submissions on whether the recordings were lawfully obtained and meet the standards required for admission.

The hearing will continue next Monday.

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’ legal representation includes seasoned attorneys Nigel Hughes, Dexter Todd, Darren Wade, Eusi Anderson, and Ronald Daniels.

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 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.

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 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.

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.

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 had 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.”