ATTORNEY-GENERAL (AG) and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC., has expressed deep concern over the action of the A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) to openly support the defendants in the electoral fraud case.

Nandlall’s comments come in the midst of the high-profile electoral fraud case involving several prominent figures, including former District Four (Demerara-Mahaica) Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo, former Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield; former People’s National Congress/Reform (PNC/R) Chairperson Volda Lawrence; PNC/R activist Carol Smith-Joseph, and others.

Nandlall, during his weekly Facebook programme, Issues in the News, expressed his surprise at the coalition’s stance, saying, “One would have expected that APNU+AFC would have wanted to distance themselves from those charges and those who were charged.”

He further alleged that the coalition’s recent action demonstrates their alignment with those implicated in the alleged electoral fraud.

Nandlall specifically pointed to a protest organised by APNU supporters outside the court to support the defendants during a recent hearing on Tuesday.

On Tuesday, the case was called for report before Senior Magistrate Leron Daly at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court. During the hearing, there was a scanty protest outside of court by APNU supporters in an attempt to disrupt the hearing.

Attorney-General and Minister of Legal Affairs, Anil Nandlall, SC.,

Nandlall highlighted that the protest was shared on the coalition’s official Facebook page, confirming their support for the accused.

“So, if you are in doubt about the APNU+AFC’s connection to the individuals who are implicated and who have been charged with the attempt of electoral fraud, today those doubts ought to have dissipated,” the Attorney General said.

The quartet, along with Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM) employees Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Bobb-Cummings and Michelle Miller, are before the court for allegedly defrauding the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes for the 2020 elections.

It is alleged that Lawrence, Smith-Joseph, February, Livan, Bobb-Cummings and Miller between March 2 and August 2, 2020, at Georgetown, conspired with Lowenfield and Mingo to defraud the electors of Guyana by declaring a false account of votes cast in the March 2, 2020, General and Regional Elections.

Additionally, Miller was slapped with a separate charge which alleged that between March 3-5, 2020, at the GECOM Command Centre at Ashmin’s building on High and Hadfield Streets, Georgetown, she conspired with persons to defraud the people of Guyana by not using the figures from the Statements of Poll for the purpose of ascertaining the figures to make the declaration of the results for the said District Four, thereby resulting in a false declaration being made for the said district.

In August 2021, Mingo, along with Lowenfield and his then-deputy Roxanne Myers, had their employment terminated by the commission.

INFLATED RESULTS

It is alleged that the trio inflated or facilitated the inflation of results for Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, to give the APNU+AFC Coalition a majority win at the polls when, in fact, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) had won by 15,000 votes.

Those who rejected the results filed several legal challenges which ended up before the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), Guyana’s highest appeal court.

A lengthy recount of the votes eventually resulted in victory for the PPP/C, and Dr. Irfaan Ali was sworn in as the President of Guyana on August 2, 2020.

In April 2023, the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (CoI) into the events of the 2020 General and Regional Elections found that there was collusion and collaboration between senior GECOM officials to divert votes to the APNU +AFC, instead of safeguarding and preserving the integrity of the electoral system.

Chairman Stanley John and commissioners — former Chancellor Carl Singh and Senior Counsel Godfrey Smith made these findings on the basis of evidence from the many witnesses who had testified, along with the reports of the international observers.

“…our inquiry reveals that there were, in fact, shockingly brazen attempts by Chief Election Officer (CEO) Keith Lowenfield; Deputy Chief Election Officer (DCEO)Roxanne Myers and Returning Officer (RO) Clairmont Mingo to derail and corrupt the statutorily prescribed procedure for the counting, ascertaining and tabulation of votes of the March 2nd election, as well as the true declaration of the results of that election, and that they did so – to put it in unvarnished language of the ordinary man – for the purpose of stealing the election,” the commissioners said in their report.

UNLAWFUL ACTS

The report found that Lowenfield blatantly made decisions and employed procedures in direct contradiction to the law and the will of the people. The findings revealed too that GECOM staffers ignored specific instructions from the court, used materials that were illegal and or manipulated, and sided with APNU+AFC agents to berate observers whenever objections were raised.

After careful scrutiny, the CoI commissioners concluded that there was a conscious and deliberate – even brazen –effort to violate the provisions of section 84(1) of the Representation of the People Act (RoPA).

In so doing, certain “senior GECOM officials” abandoned all need for neutrality and impartiality, and demonstrated a bias for the APNU+AFC and, in the course of events over those days, showed an “open connection” with that party, and by their efforts sought a desired result for the coalition.

As such, the commissioners said that after consideration and analysis of the evidence, Lowenfield, Mingo and Myers “were principally responsible for clear and deliberate attempts to frustrate, obstruct and subvert the ascertainment of votes in electoral district No. 4.”