Although they contested the March 2020 elections, executive member of the United Republican Party (URP), Rawle Aaron said he was prohibited from entering polling stations on elections day and was forced to view polling statements after they were placed outside following counting.
“I was debarred from visiting some polling stations by mostly APNU+AFC supporters who claimed once you are representing another political party, you would not be able to enter,” Aaron told the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the March 2020 elections.
In his sworn testimony, Aaron identified Sophia and Diamond as the two areas which URP representatives were unable to enter even though they had accreditation badges.
In one instance, he said he was even “debarred” by the police who said they were acting on instructions they received from employees of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM). “They (police) were saying we would not be able to enter…All they said is that we had no representatives there and that we would not be allowed to enter,” Aaron told Senior Counsel, Sophia Chote who is leading evidence in the inquiry.
Aaron explained to the CoI that as the General Secretary of the party, he was authorized by GECOM to visit all polling stations. “It was given in form of badge that identified you. We had different classes of badge. Some persons who were only authorized to visit some specific areas, some specific regions while others like myself, we were authorized to visit every district and every area in every region,” he said.
However, he said URP had an issue with accreditation badges since they were not issued with the required number for the regions which they contested. And, no reason was given for this.
Upon lodging the complaint, Aaron said he was told that the party representatives should return to the areas where they were not allowed and utilize their “regular” badges. “We were supposed to be given badges in categories that would permit us to enter certain areas and we did not receive enough of those badges that gave us unilateral rights and authority to enter those areas,” Aaron said.
Prior to this, Aaron told the CoI that when the party was supposed to submit their list on nomination day, they also experienced some setbacks.
He said because of the number of parties that contested the elections, a decision was taken to set up a shift system to ensure the URP was the first to submit their list. However, things didn’t go as planned. “…We were barred from submitting our nominees and we were told that APNU+AFC would be submitting their list first,” Aaron told the CoI which is chaired by retired Justice, Stanley John.
Because of this, Aaron said the URP only contested nine of the regional districts. “One was omitted because we did not had the resource to go back and to clarify those names that was omitted because they were submitted by other political parties,” he said.
After polls were closed, he said he visited polling station across the county but was only able to view poll results from outside. Some of the polling sheets were even removed after being placed outside polling stations by APNU+AFC supporters, he said.
No space
Aaron told the CoI about how the URP continued to experience difficulties even after polls were closed.
Around 8pm on March 2, 2020, he said he went to the Ashmins building where he proceeded to an “open space” that was designated for political parties which contested elections.
There was no space set aside for URP, Aaron said.
As such, he said he saw Chief Election Officer, Keith Lowenfield who assisted him in getting a designated space for his party so that they could participate in the tabulation process.
But before Lowenfield, Aaron said he approached Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo who said “you would have to use the designated space”.
The following morning around 2am, Aaron told the CoI, tabulation was bought to a halt by Mingo. “He said that we will stop the tabulation at this time and we would resume the next day,” he said.
Prior to this, Aaron said the tabulation was being done and they experienced some “challenges” because of the screen which was being used. He said he brought this to the attention of Mingo. “I said that the screens were too small we were not seeing the tabulation properly…He said that is what they were provided with and that is what we had to use,” Aaron recalled.
Asked by Chote about his response to Mingo’s decision to halt the process, Aaron said “we were concerned because the expediency in which the results would have had would have been significantly delayed”.
The party expressed their concern “profusely” to Mingo. “Stating that we were surprised that GECOM had not acquired enough human resource capabilities based on the amount of money that was given to fund the elections,” Aaron said.
However, he told the CoI that Mingo responded that his staff was tired. “He (Mingo) said that his staff were tired and we would have to return the following day,” Aaron said.
Aaron added that he even asked Mingo if GECOM had backup staff so that the process can continue but he said “no, they don’t”.
Not satisfied, Aaron further told the CoI that URP representatives protested to see Lowenfield. “We said that we were uncomfortable with the timing and the stopping of the counting and we want it to continue,” he recalled telling Mingo.
But they were told by Mingo that Lowenfield was unavailable. The URP representatives left Ashmins building.
Not feeling well
Later that day, Aaron told Chote that URP representatives returned to Ashmins building.
He said the verification process had not restarted but Mingo told him that it would resume “very shortly”. At the time, Mingo was in the tabulation centre.
Close to 11am that day, Aaron told the CoI the verification process was about to begin and URP representatives asked to be provided with tables to put their SOPs (Statements of Poll) on to participate in the process.
After “some” protest, they were provided with the tables and verification of polls commenced. “It entailed the results being called out by the GECOM representatives and posted on the screens that were displayed and we verify it with the Statements of Poll that we had,” Aaron said as he briefly detailed the process.
However, according to Aaron URP agents could not have seen the numbers and they protested again to Mingo and Lowenfield. “We said that the screens were too small. We were still not able to verify the numbers clearly and we would like to see them much larger,” he recalled.
In response, Aaron said Mingo told him “that is what we will have to work with”. As a result, URP representatives asked to see Lowenfield and after expressing their concern, he promised to “fix it” with “larger” screens.
When the process continued, Aaron said he was able to see numbers on the screen. The process continued for less than two hours before it was stopped again “abruptly” by Lowenfield. “He announced that we were going to stop and we would return the following day. Again, the staff needed to rest,” Aaron recalled.
According to Aaron, he and other party representatives told Lowenfield “we found it strange that they were going to stop the tabulation when we were now comfortable, everyone seemed to be in order and the tabulation was moving smoothly”.
However, he said Mingo insisted that GECOM staff needed to rest. Eventually, Aaron said he left the building and returned the following day around 9am.
At that time, no tabulation was being done and it was announced that Mingo was not feeling well.
Before this, he said he saw Mingo in the tabulation room. He appeared “pretty well”. Myers and Lowenfield were also present in the building.
At about midday, Aaron further told Chote that an ambulance arrived at the Ashmins building and Myers announced that Mingo was not well. “She (Myers) was shouting down that Mr Mingo was not well,” he called.
Aaron said Mingo was taken out on a stretcher.
He said he remained at Ashmins building for about three hours. Even after it was suggested that Mingo be replaced by another Returning Officer this was not done. “Even though we had made suggestions that a returning officer from another district come over,” he said.
On March 5, 2020, Aaron said he was present at Ashmins building when GECOM employees including Myers informed him and other party representatives that a bomb was in the building. For their safety, Aaron said they were told to evacuate the building. But with the tabulation process still incomplete, everyone was reluctant.
At this point, Aaron said he was aware that court proceedings had begun.
During the March 6th tabulation, Aaron told the CoI that a court marshal arrived with a notice to stop the verification process. He said police officers prevented the court marshal from serving the document to Mingo and counting continued.
“He (marshal) remained and he kept trying to get to Mr Mingo to serve the notice,” Aaron said.
It was at this point that now Attorney General, Anil Nandlall told the marshal that he needed to go to Mingo and within 20 to 30 minutes the notice was served.
After being served the notice, Aaron recalled Mingo informed those present that there was a court order and as such the verification process would have to stop. “He (Mingo) said that it would resume at GECOM head office…in the afternoon….He specifically said that there would be large screens there that would help us to verify the count,” he said.
Aaron told the CoI that he did show up and participated in the process. “There was a piece of cardboard with a cotton cloth thrown on it and there were issues and challenges getting the projector to focus on that material,” he said.
“On this occasion, a spreadsheet was not being used. They were using SOPs…. They were calling from the statement of polls and we enquired after we saw that the numbers were once again inconsistent,” Aaron further related.
While the numbers were “consistently off”, Aaron said concerns were raised and they were ignored. This caused URP to “withdrew” from the process.
He said left for home but had to be escorted by the police since he received threats from APNU+AFC supporters who had gathered outside after engaging the press and other party representatives.
