Election fraud trial: Case delayed again as Magistrate’s illness pushes hearing to next month end

The election fraud case, which is already facing delays due to various factors but was supposed to have resumed on Tuesday, has been adjourned again to next month, owing to the presiding Magistrate still being unwell.
Last month, the election fraud cases had been adjourned to September 17, after Senior Magistrate Leron Daly proceeded on 30 days sick leave. On Tuesday, however, the parties in the case were informed that the matter would be further adjourned to October 31, 2024 at 10:00h.

This, according to acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty, was because Daly is still on leave and unable to preside over the matter. It is understood, however, that the case may be reassigned should Magistrate Daly still be unable to resume her duties by October month end.
Only two witnesses have so far testified; they are Minister of Local Government and Regional development, Sonia Parag, and head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Diaspora Unit, Rosalinda Rasul.
Parag had testified on the misconduct she witnessed from GECOM staff during the 2020 General and Regional Elections. Her testimony had included witnessing efforts by GECOM staff, to alter the results by deducting People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) votes and adding votes to the then ruling a Partnership for National Unity/Alliance For Change (APNU/AFC).
She had also testified that despite a Court Order from acting Chief Justice Roxane George, which compelled GECOM to use only the Statements of Poll (SOP’s) to tabulate the numbers for the Region Four (Demerara/Mahaica) votes, Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, one of those now on trial, continued to conduct the tabulation using a projector and bedsheet.
The Minister had further testified that both she and the European Union (EU) observer, protested that they could not see the numbers being projected on the bedsheet, to compare with their own numbers. However, their objections were ignored and GECOM pushed on, until Mingo made his now infamous final declaration.
Both Parag and Rasul, testified that members of the GECOM staff consistently ignoring objections from party reps and observers, when they called out results that did not match the SOPs in their possession.
The trial was originally supposed to last from July 29 to September 13, some four years after the 2020 General and Regional Elections. Nine persons are before the court in this case. They include Mingo; former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield and his former Deputy, Roxanne Myers.
Also charged are former PNCR Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNCR activist Carol Smith-Joseph; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Michelle Miller and Denise Babb-Cummings. They are facing 28 charges relating to electoral fraud committed during the 2020 General and Regional elections.
Among the offences these defendants are accused of committing are: misconduct while holding public office; presenting falsified documentation; and planning to manipulate Guyana’s voters by presenting an inaccurate vote total.
These charges stem from attempts to rig the 2020 General and Regional Elections in favour of the then-ruling APNU/AFC. The election report of former CEO Lowenfield claimed that the APNU/AFC coalition garnered 171,825 votes, while the 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.
Following the recount, Irfaan Ali of the PPP/C was declared President of Guyana on August 2, 2020 – some five months after the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections. But the delay in the election fraud case has been a cause for concern, including for the government.
During his press conference last week, Vice President Bharrat Jagdeo had observed the widespread public frustration over the delays in the trial and had made it clear that the judiciary must address delays. He had pointed out that with all the evidence there to prosecute the cases, it is up to the judiciary to accelerate the proceedings.
While lamenting on the persistent delays, Jagdeo went onto suggest that there could be a deliberate attempt at play.
Only last month, Jagdeo had stated that given the pace of the trials in the local courts, he has no doubts that this high-profile matter could end up in the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) – the highest level of judicial redress for Guyana. (G3)