HEALTH Minister Dr. Frank Anthony, on Tuesday, told the court that during the 2020 national recount, he verified that the figures recorded on official Statements of Recount matched what was displayed and entered into tabulation systems.
He was at the time giving evidence in the ongoing elections fraud trial. Testifying before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts, Dr. Anthony said his role as a People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) candidate and agent during the recount placed him in a position to directly observe the verification and tabulation of votes.
Under examination by prosecutor attorney Latchmie Rahamat, he outlined that during the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections, he later acted as a recount agent for his party.
He explained that the recount process began on May 7, 2020, and was conducted at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC).
Dr. Anthony described a structured process involving 10 workstations where ballot boxes from across all 10 electoral districts were recounted. From these recounts, official Statements of Recount were generated and forwarded to a tabulation area where he was stationed.
He told the court that in the tabulation room, multiple stakeholders were present, including members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) high-level team that supervised the recount.
The CARICOM team comprised Cynthia Barrow-Giles, a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Government at University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill; John Jarvis, Commissioner of the Antigua and Barbuda Electoral Commission; and Sylvester King, Deputy Supervisor of Elections of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
He said that Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) officials, party representatives and international observers were also present, adding that each Statement of Recount was projected onto a screen for all in the room to view the recorded figures.
Dr. Anthony testified that he personally compared the projected statements with copies in his possession.
“I looked at what was being projected and verified that what was being projected was the Statements of Recount that I had in my possession,” he said.
He further explained that once the figures were displayed, GECOM officials would call out the numbers and input them into an Excel spreadsheet, which was simultaneously projected on a separate screen.
Minister Anthony said he was able to observe this process clearly, noting that the officials were within his line of sight.
“I was able to see how they were entering the information on the computer, and as they entered that information, it was being displayed on the screen,” he told the court.
According to Dr. Anthony, he also verified that the numbers being called and entered into the spreadsheet matched both the projected Statements of Recount and the copies he held. He said there were no discrepancies in what he observed during this process.
The court heard that each Statement of Recount remained displayed for a period estimated between 10 to 15 minutes, allowing sufficient time for verification before the process moved forward.
The witness further testified that once the tabulation process for each district was completed, a certificate of recount was prepared by GECOM officials. He said he examined the figures on these certificates before signing them as a representative of the PPP/C.
“I then looked at the numbers, verified that those numbers were accurate… and then signed the certificate of recount,” he stated.
He explained that the Certificates of Recount included a section listing each political party, as well as a section for GECOM officials to sign, and another that allowed representatives of parties who witnessed the recount to sign. As a representative of the PPP/C, Dr. Anthony said he was permitted to sign on behalf of the party.
He confirmed that he signed certificates for all 10 electoral districts and that his signature appears on each of those documents. Minister Anthony added that after signing, he collected copies of the certificates and accompanying spreadsheets, which were stamped and signed by GECOM officials to authenticate them.
These documents, he said, were then handed over to the PPP’s Chief Election Agent, now Minister of Agriculture Zulfikar Mustafa, in keeping with the party’s internal procedures.
The witness maintained throughout his testimony that he had an unobstructed view of the tabulation process, including the projection screens and the officials entering the data. He also stated that he was present in the room during the signing and stamping of the official documents.
During cross-examination by defence counsel Nigel Hughes, Dr. Anthony was questioned about the scope of his knowledge. Hughes challenged him on whether he could speak to events outside of the tabulation room, including alleged irregularities.
In response, Dr. Anthony clarified that his testimony was strictly limited to what he personally observed.
“My knowledge is limited to what happened in the tabulation room,” he said, adding that he could not speak to processes or occurrences outside that setting.
When asked whether he was aware of any missing poll books or statutory documents during the recount, Dr. Anthony stated that he could not recall and reiterated that his knowledge was confined to the materials and processes within the tabulation area.
The court also heard that Dr. Anthony had previously submitted a signed statement in the matter.
His testimony forms part of the prosecution’s case in the ongoing elections fraud trial, which continues before the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
The trial is set to resume on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, with further cross-examination of the health minister.
Those on trial 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. Also facing charges are former GECOM staffers Michelle Miller, Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, and Denise Babb-Cummings.
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.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, has argued that the defendants each played a “critical role” in attempts to inflate votes in favour of the then-incumbent A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition while reducing votes for the PPP/C.
Initial results announced by Lowenfield had declared an APNU+AFC victory, with 171,825 votes against the PPP/C’s 166,343. However, after five months of litigation and a Caribbean Community (CARICOM)-supervised recount, the PPP/C was declared the winner with 233,336 votes to APNU+AFC’s 217,920, paving the way for Dr. Irfaan Ali’s swearing-in as president on August 2, 2020.
The fallout from the election controversy led to the termination of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo’s contracts at GECOM in August 2021.
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.
