2020 election fraud cases: More delays as Defence Attorney requests GECOM’s meeting minutes

…Magistrate to make decision on request on Wednesday

The 2020 electoral fraud case has again reached another stumbling block as despite the State being ready to move forward and despite providing the defence with a plethora of evidence, a request from the defence for Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) minutes from that period has resulted in additional delays to the trial.
On Monday, the election fraud cases related to the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections were called before Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
The State was going to call Local Government Minister Sonia Parag, Diaspora Unit Head Rosalinda Rasul, former Region Four Police Commander Edgar Thomas, and Forensic Investigator Rawle Nedd as witnesses.
However, Attorney-at-Law Nigel Hughes made a last-minute request for minutes from GECOM on the grounds that this would help him prepare to defend his clients.
Hughes’ clients are former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield, his former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers and former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo.
It is understood that the defence had previously been given Statements of Poll (SoPs) and Statements of Recount (SoRs), as well as other documents and video evidence including video-recorded interviews.

During Monday’s hearing, Special Prosecutor Darshan Ramdhani, KC, described Hughes’ request as a delaying tactic, since related disclosures were done over two years ago and Hughes had not requested the minutes then. Further, Ramdhani argued that Section 140 of the Representation of the People Act (ROPA) prohibits these documents from being disclosed.
However, Hughes cited Article 144 of the Constitution in arguing that his request was a reasonable one and went on to say that the Constitution supersedes ROPA. However, Ramdhani noted that he did not have the requested documents, nor did he have the authority to disclose them, but rather the High Court did.
Magistrate Daly eventually adjourned the case until Wednesday, March 6, when she will make a pronouncement on Hughes’ request. As the Magistrate informed the court, however, further approaches to the High Court may only serve to delay the case even more.
On October 25, 2023, Magistrate Daly had informed Ramdhani that she would not start the trial until the prosecution had arranged witness statements, exhibits, and other trial-related materials in an orderly manner.
Prosecutor Ramdhani had at the time provided flash drives containing certified copies of the SoPs and SoRs, scanned documents as well as video interviews. Multiple bundles of paperwork were also turned in.

In addition to Lowenfield, Myers and Mingo, the other defendants are former People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph, and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
They are accused of a number of offences, including misconduct while holding public office, presenting falsified documentation, and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total.
These charges stemmed from attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the then ruling A Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC) coalition. These accused persons are all out on cash bail. Last year, the prosecution had asked the Chancellor of the Judiciary (ag), Justice Yonette Cummings-Edwards to assign a special court to hear the cases; her response is currently been awaited. This, in Ramdhani’s opinion, would have guaranteed that the cases be tried quickly.
Concerns regarding the unsatisfactory progress in these cases have been voiced by a number of persons, including Attorney General and Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall, SC.
Shortly after GECOM had announced the election results on August 2, 2020, charges were brought against the individuals in question.
The election report of former CEO Lowenfield claimed that the APNU/AFC coalition garnered 171,825 votes, while the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) gained 166,343 votes. How he arrived at those figures is still unknown, since the certified results from the recount exercise supervised by GECOM and a high-level team from the Caribbean Community (Caricom) pellucidly showed that the PPP/C won with 233,336 votes, while the coalition garnered 217,920.
The recount exercise also highlighted that Mingo had heavily inflated the figures in Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) – Guyana’s largest voting district — in favour of the then-caretaker APNU/AFC regime.
In August 2021, GECOM voted to terminate the employment of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo. (G3)