Election fraud trial: SOPs for Reg 1-10 General Elections tendered into evidence

– trial adjourned until June 16

As the trial in the 2020 elections fraud case continued on Friday, the remaining General Elections Statement of Polls (SOPs) for Regions Five to Ten, and Regional Elections SOPs for Regions One to Ten were completed and able to be entered into evidence before the court was once again adjourned.

The trial in the case will resume on June 15 at 9:30h at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty. The trial will run every day from June 15 to 19, and again from June 22 to 26 before being adjourned once more. Trial dates for July remain tentative pending the availability of attorneys on both the prosecution and defense sides.

Additionally, during Friday’s proceeding, Magistrate McGusty noted that she would be proceeding on leave from July 20. Hence, there will be no trial in July if dates cannot be agreed upon before she leaves.

The SOPs for the GRE were entered into evidence during the testimony of Supreme Court Registrar, Sueann Lovell, who was the sole witness of the day on Friday. This was Lovell’s second appearance after she first appeared on Wednesday when the original General Elections SOPs for Regions One to Four were tendered into evidence.

There were a total of 2,339 polling stations for the March 2, 2020 General and Regional Elections (GRE), resulting in 2,339 SOPs and 2,339 Statements of Recounts (SORs) each for the General and Regional elections, respectively. The lodging of the SOPs and SORs as evidence is expected to be completed when the case resumes, and cross-examination of Lovell is expected to occur.

Lovell has been the gatekeeper of the original SOPs and SORs since January 2021 when the High Court ordered the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) to transfer all original SOPs and SORs from the 2020 elections to the custody of the High Court for safekeeping and as official evidence. The documents were delivered to the High Court by former Chief Elections Officer Keith Lowenfield in the presence of GECOM Chairperson Claudette Singh. Lowenfield is one of the defendants currently charged in the case.

The documents were ordered to be handed over given that the Representation of the People’s Act (ROPA) allows the Chief Elections Officer (CEO) to destroy all election documents after a 12-month period has elapsed.

During Wednesday ‘s trial, Lovell testified to the strict chain of custody that the documents were under. Subsequent to the court’s possession of the documents in May 2021, copies of the original SOPs and SORs were made and handed over to the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) and the Guyana Police Force (GPF) as evidence in the elections fraud case.

During the handing over of the copies to the police, an audit process was conducted to ensure that the copies handed over were an exact match to the original documents held by the registrar. Police Inspector Nigel Stephens, who received the certified copies from the registrar, is also a witness in the case, making his first appearance in the trial on Thursday during which the certified copies of the SOPs and SORs began being tendered as evidence.

Lowenfield is one of nine persons charged with conspiracy to commit electoral fraud concerning the tabulation of votes for Region Four in the 2020 GRE.

Those charged include former Deputy CEO Roxanne Myers, former Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former A Partnership for National Unity + Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) Minister Volda Lawrence, former APNU+AFC Chief Scrutineer Carol Smith -Joseph, and former GECOM employees Enrique Livan, Sheffern February, Michelle Miller, and Denise Bobb-Cummings.