GEORGETOWN, Guyana, Sept 17, CMC- Acting Chief Magistrate, Faith McGusty, has adjourned to October 31, the trial of nine people, including the former chief elections officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield, accused of electoral fraud in the 2020 General and Regional election.
The trial was due to have resumed on Tuesday after it had been adjourned in early August after the presiding Chief Magistrate Leron Daly fell ill.
Magistrate McGusty said that if Magistrate Daly is still ill on October 31, a decision will have to be made on the way forward in the matter. She said that will include exploring whether the matter will have to be transferred to another magistrate for continuation.
However, the Acting Chief Magistrate said that this option will be explored when the parries appear in court on October 31.
So far, only one person, the Minister of Local Government and Regional Development, Sonia Parag, has testified at the trial that is expected to last at least six weeks.
A section of Parag’s statement had been struck from being admitted into evidence in the case after concerns were raised about her mentioning the names of an individual who is not a defendant in the case.
Several witnesses are expected to testified in the case.
Apart from Lowenfield, the other persons charged are his deputy Roxanne Myers; former returning officer, Clairmont Mingo; and GECOM employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
In addition, former health minister Volda Lawrence and opposition activist, Carol Smith-Joseph, are all accused of a number of offences, including misconduct in public office, uttering forged documents, and plotting to deceive the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes.
It is alleged that the defendants inflated or facilitated the inflation of results for Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, to give the then ruling A Partnership for National Unity and Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) coalition a majority win at the controversial presidential and regional elections in March 202.
CMC/gt/ir/2024