The ongoing trial into the 2020 election fraud allegations continued on Monday with testimony from former Private Sector Commission (PSC) observer Christopher ‘Kit’ Nascimento.
The 93-year-old man outlined a series of irregularities during the Region Four (Demerara-Mahaica) vote tabulation that triggered diplomatic and political objections.
The trial includes multiple high-profile defendants: former Chief Elections Officer (CEO) at the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM), Keith Lowenfield, his Deputy, Roxanne Myers, and former Region Four Returning Officer, Clairmont Mingo.
Also charged are former Health Minister under the A Partnership for National Unity +Alliance for Change (APNU+AFC) government, Volda Lawrence; People’s National Congress Reform (PNCR) member Carol Smith-Joseph; and former GECOM staffers Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings, and Michelle Miller.
They face 19 consolidated charges related to electoral fraud. Each has pleaded not guilty and is out on bail.
The prosecution, led by King’s Counsel Darshan Ramdhani, presented Nascimento as a key witness before Acting Chief Magistrate Faith McGusty at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts.
Nascimento, a well-known communications consultant, testified that while Election Day activities appeared free and fair, the Region Four tabulation process raised serious concerns.
He stated that on March 4, 2020, at GECOM’s Ashmins Building Command Centre, People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) party agents began objecting to figures presented during tabulation, claiming they did not match their Statements of Poll (SoPs).
“What I saw was a spreadsheet, not a SoP,” he said.
Nascimento recounted that former CEO Lowenfield reviewed the screen and halted the process, acknowledging that the figures did not align.
On March 5, 2025, he told the court that he witnessed Returning Officer Mingo attempting to prematurely declare the results, sparking vocal objections from then-opposition leaders, including now-President Dr. Irfaan Ali and Vice President Dr. Bharrat Jagdeo.
During a March 12, 2025, visit, Nascimento recalled that he observed Mingo resume the count.
He said objections were again raised by PPP/C agents, prompting GECOM Chairperson Justice Claudette Singh to halt the process to review a legal opinion issued by Chief Justice Roxane George, SC.
The following day, March 13, 2025, he discovered that the tabulation had been relocated to a smaller room. There, Mingo issued a ban on laptops and phones, triggering a diplomatic protest.
“One or two of the diplomats said, ‘Kit, this is nonsense. We are leaving,’” Nascimento recalled.
He further testified that APNU+AFC agents remained silent amid objections, and the count became unreadably fast.
He said tensions escalated when Carol Smith-Joseph shouted at Mingo, urging him to ignore the objections and proceed with the tabulation.
Nascimento added that her aggressive outburst sparked a confrontation with then-opposition member, now Minister of Home Affairs, Robeson Benn.
He recounted that after he questioned her interference, Smith-Joseph turned to him and snapped, “Who the f**k are you?”
He said he did not return to the Ashmins Building afterward and later learned the tabulation had been moved to GECOM headquarters.
Nascimento has concluded his evidence-in-chief and is expected to return for cross-examination when the trial resumes on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.
The prosecution argues that each defendant had a deliberate role in attempting to inflate votes for APNU+AFC and deflate votes for the PPP/C.
The March 2, 2020, elections sparked a prolonged political standoff, eventually resolved through a national recount led by GECOM and a Caribbean Community (CARICOM) team.
The recount confirmed a PPP/C victory, with 233,336 votes to the APNU+AFC’s 217,920.
After the PPP/C returned to office in August 2020, criminal charges were brought against the defendants.
One year later, in August 2021, GECOM terminated the contracts of Lowenfield, Myers, and Mingo following the emergence of the fraud allegations.
