The following is an opinion piece by Guyana Times on the blatant attempts by Chief Elections Officer, Keith Lowenfield, to present fraudulent figures of the March 2, polls to the Commission for declaration.
GECOM Secretariat’s CEO Keith Lowenfield seems determined to subvert the carefully crafted systems and procedures of the institution he serves, which were designed to deliver a Government chosen by the people in free and fair elections. After his Returning Officer for Region Four, Clairmont Mingo, blatantly inflated the tabulation of the SoPs to favour APNU/AFC, he insisted on becoming an accessory to the fraud by twice using the illegal numbers in his mandated report to the Commission.
Subsequently, when APNU/AFC sought to undermine the credibility of the consequent recount – introduced to rectify Mingo’s fraud – by making unsubstantiated allegations of deceased and migrant persons voting, Lowenfield arbitrarily used these claims to prepare and submit a fraudulent report that accepted the claims as facts and disenfranchised 275,000 voters, by assuming the powers of an elections court.
This was his third fraud, since, in reference to APNU/AFC’s claims, the Chair had advised: “He who asserts must prove”. Upon the Chair citing the Statements of Recount and Certificates of Recount as authoritative sources for determining valid votes, Lowenfield attempted to submit another report.
This was overtaken by the Court of Appeal conferring jurisdiction to itself to adjudicate the contention of an APNU member that, inter alia, Lowenfield’s report should only include “valid” votes in an election for the presidency. The Court of Appeal agreed with the plaintiff but ordered a three-day stay of its order.
Lowenfield has now flagrantly violated that stay by issuing a report that has now disenfranchised 114,000 voters, based on APNU/AFC’s outrageous claims. This is his fourth fraud. The Chair must deal with him condignly and sanctions must be immediately applied to him personally.
