Lowenfield has gone completely rogue, and is “jukking” us in our eyes

Dear Editor,
Keith Lowenfield, the Chief Elections Officer, has gone completely rogue, rigging the elections’ results on behalf of APNU/AFC in open defiance of GECOM. In the process, Lowenfield is thumbing his nose at GECOM, and is “jukking” all of us in our eyes.
The truth is that Lowenfield went rogue long before the elections. He now feels emboldened to come out in open defiance, even claiming powers no one has bestowed on him. The rigging cabal might have convinced him he has nothing to fear; and so Lowenfield, with clearly fraudulent reports, is telling Guyana and the world — projecting to the courts, including the CCJ — that the constitution empowers him to pick and choose which votes are valid and which are invalid.
In short, why hold elections? The constitution gives him, Lowenfield demands, the absolute power to name a winner, regardless of whom the people voted for. In Lowenfield’s rogue world, he is the Police, the prosecutor, the judge and the jury. He is Emperor Lowenfield.
He claims that, as a “constitutional” officer, he can act independent of GECOM. I find nothing in the Constitution of Guyana and the Representation of the People’s Act and the Recount Order remotely close to the Chief Elections Officer being a constitutional officer. He is a statutory officer, appointed by GECOM and reporting to GECOM. He has no independence to act outside of instructions from GECOM. I have no idea which constitution gives him the title of “constitutional officer”. I do know it is not the Constitution of Guyana.
Lowenfield submitted to GECOM a report on March 14, showing APNU+AFC won with 237,000 votes. It was a report based on Mingo’s fraudulent Region 4 results, even though Lowenfield knew that Mingo did not prepare his declaration in accordance with the law. Lowenfield never presented to GECOM the 2,339 Statements of Poll that presiding officers prepared on March 2. Had GECOM been given those 2,339 SOPs, they would have seen that Lowenfield’s March 14 report was based on fraud, because those SOPs would have shown that Mingo generated bogus numbers for most of the polling stations on the East Bank and East Coast Demerara. Three commissioners formally requested those SOPs, and were illegally refused.
On June 12, after the completion of the recount, and in accordance with the Recount Order, he presented the results of the recount, which showed virtually the same results the SOPs from March 2 produced: that the PPP won with 233,000 votes, more than 15,000 votes ahead of Granger’s APNU+AFC. But Lowenfield proceeded to provide a second set of tables, disregarding the certified recount results and substituting them with another set of results that gave Granger’s APNU+AFC a two-thirds majority, winning more than 67% of the votes. It was an act the Commission rejected.
Then, on June 22, he produced another report, this time insisting, oops he made a mistake and APNU+AFC won by about 3,000 votes, winning just over 50%. There was one election on March 2, but Lowenfield has produced four different results.
Lowenfield has no right, legal or otherwise, to pick and choose which numbers he wants to use. On E-Day, each voter had to undergo rigid scrutiny before he or she was allowed to vote. One GDF officer tried to vote more than once, and was apprehended. It is virtually impossible for anyone to vote more than once, or to vote for someone else. Each presiding officer, together with other GECOM staff and together with party representatives, ensure that every person who enters to vote is a legitimate voter.
On E-Day, no one, not anyone in GECOM or from a political party — no observer — identified a single instance that a person showed up to vote who was not entitled to. In fact, David Granger himself, the GECOM Chair, Lowenfield, and every observer group testified during E-Day and subsequently, on March 3, that E-Day was of the highest quality.
The responsibility to count votes was that of the presiding officers, witnessed by the counting agents of all political parties. The presiding officers prepared SOPs and posted those up for the public to see. The results from each presiding officer were used by the Returning Officers from each Region to tabulate the total votes for each party in their respective regions. By Tuesday night, March 3, nine Returning Officers completed that tabulation with no problem. It was the RO of Region 4 that held up the national results. He aborted the tried and tested method and replaced it with a bogus spreadsheet with fraudulent results.
On March 5, Lowenfield was willing to accept the fraudulent results. If it were not for the intervention of the Chief Justice, David Granger would have been sworn in on a fraudulent result. On March 13, Mingo again produced a fraudulent Region 4 result, and Lowenfield promptly utilised that bogus Region 4 result to prepare his first report, showing APNU/AFC won with 237,000 votes.
There has since been a recount which showed the real results, totally consistent with the SOPs of March 2. What has Lowenfield done with those SOPs? He has not provided those for examination by GECOM. Just as those SOPs were disregarded, the SORs are now being thrown into the dustbin, because Lowenfield has arrogated to himself the responsibility to tamper with the recount and decide which vote he would accept and which he would not accept. The law provides no such power to Lowenfield. His job is simple: tabulate the certified results from the ten regions to determine the total national vote, and calculate the seats allocation based on the total votes.
Lowenfield has openly gone rogue. The time has come for GECOM to act and end this travesty. Fire Lowenfield, call in the Police, and charge Lowenfield. Thieving people’s votes is a criminal act.

Sincerely,
Dr Leslie Ramsammy