GUYANA · COURTS
Key Facts
- —The country Guyana, a South American country on the Atlantic coast that has become a major oil producer, held a disputed general election on 2 March 2020.
- —Why it matters Nine people are on trial over claims that vote results in Region Four, the country’s largest voting district, were inflated, and the 2020 dispute drew US visa restrictions at the time.
- —Why now The trial resumed on Monday 19 October 2026 for a block of sittings planned to run to 30 October.
- —What happened Two immigration officers described the passport files of former Health Minister Volda Lawrence and former Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield, which prosecutors use as signature samples.
- —The numbers The recount gave the PPP/C 233,336 votes and the coalition 217,920, a gap of 15,416, and the passport samples for Lawrence span applications from 2010, 2015 and 2020.
- —What it means for you US readers see a court testing a 2020 vote that Washington once weighed in on, in a country where an ExxonMobil-led offshore block has installed oil capacity above 900,000 barrels a day.
- —Still open Cross-examination of the immigration officers, the court’s view of the handwriting opinion and any verdict.
The Guyana election fraud trial heard passport evidence on Monday 19 October 2026 that prosecutors want to use to tie signatures on disputed 2020 election papers to two of the nine accused, according to a government Department of Public Information (DPI) account of the hearing. Immigration officers told the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court how passport applications for former Health Minister Volda Lawrence and former Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield were handled, and the court has made no finding that either of them signed any disputed document.
For US readers the case matters because the 2020 dispute drew a direct reaction from Washington, when Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced visa restrictions on 15 July 2020 on people he said were responsible for or complicit in undermining democracy in Guyana. Guyana is now an oil producer, and ExxonMobil says the offshore Stabroek block it develops with partners has installed capacity above 900,000 barrels a day, so questions about how its elections were run draw attention beyond the country.
Our earlier reports on the ExxonMobil Guyana discovery and on Guyana’s oil earnings cover the oil side of the country. The trial itself concerns only the March 2020 vote count and does not involve the oil sector.
What the Guyana Election Fraud Trial Heard on Monday
Immigration officer Anneka Armstrong testified that two applications were made for Lawrence through the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, one for a regular passport and one for a diplomatic passport. Lawrence was serving as Minister of Health when she applied for the diplomatic passport, and Armstrong said she scanned the documents and passed them to her supervisor under the established procedure.
Immigration officer Odessa Isaacs McCaulay dealt with Lowenfield’s application for a replacement for a lost passport. She identified his signature in the passport file, explaining that he signed on an electronic keypad in her presence and that the signature matched the one on his application.
McCaulay also said that applicants must sign for themselves and may not have another person sign for them, which gave the prosecution a basis for treating his passport signature as a comparison sample. The account says the documents tied to the Lowenfield comparison include his passport application, an affidavit about his lost passport and three election documents dated 10, 11 and 31 July 2020.
The first of those July documents concerns a clarification on a request to prepare and submit an election report, and the second concerns the submission of the General and Regional Elections Report. The third concerns the preparation and submission of an election report.
Cross-examination of the immigration witnesses was put off to the next hearing while the prosecution continues to present its case. The sources reviewed do not give the date of that next sitting.
The Handwriting Opinion Behind the Passport Files
The passport files matter because a police handwriting expert, Ameer Mohamed, earlier gave the opinion that signatures bearing Lawrence’s name on passport applications from 2010, 2015 and 2020 and the signature on the disputed 5 March 2020 declaration appeared to share the same author. That declaration, known as a Form 24, was issued by the then Region Four Returning Officer Clairmont Mingo and called for the signatures of the returning officer and a party representative.
The government account stresses that the expert’s opinion is evidence for the court to weigh and is not a finding that any person signed any document. The prosecution still has to establish that the signature bearing Lawrence’s name was hers.
Defence attorney Nigel Hughes challenged the expert at length on 30 September, and the two outlets that covered it describe the result differently. The Guyana Chronicle wrote that Mohamed stood by his opinion and that the defence failed to make him admit a flaw, while Kaieteur News wrote that he conceded he had gathered no background data on factors such as the author’s mood, health or writing surface.
A day earlier, on 29 September, News Room Guyana reported that a handwriting expert told the court he compared signatures on Lowenfield’s passport application replacement form and lost-passport affidavit with those on other election-related documents and formed the opinion that the same person wrote them, and that he reached the same conclusion on a 13 March declaration linked to co-accused Carol Smith-Joseph. The court has accepted Mohamed as an expert in handwriting analysis, the Guyana Chronicle reported, and the weight of his evidence is for the magistrate to decide.
Who Is Accused in the 2020 Election Case
The nine accused are Lawrence, a former Health Minister in the APNU+AFC coalition government; Lowenfield, the former Chief Election Officer of the Guyana Elections Commission (GECOM); Mingo, the former Region Four returning officer; and former Deputy Chief Election Officer Roxanne Myers. They are joined by People’s National Congress Reform activist Carol Smith-Joseph and GECOM staff members Sheffern February, Enrique Livan, Denise Babb-Cummings and Michelle Miller.
The Guyana Chronicle reported at the start of the trial in July 2024 that they face charges including misconduct in public office and uttering forged documents, and it reported on 1 October 2026 that all nine have pleaded not guilty. The accused are presumed innocent, and the trial is still at the stage where the prosecution presents its case.
Prosecutors allege that results for Region Four were inflated to give the APNU+AFC coalition, then led by President David Granger, a majority, and the trial began on Monday 29 July 2024 after long delays. The PPP/C, the People’s Progressive Party/Civic now led by President Irfaan Ali, was declared the winner of the election.
The national recount, overseen by observers from the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and the Organization of American States, showed the PPP/C winning with 233,336 votes to 217,920 for the coalition, a margin of 15,416. A separate report by Lowenfield dated 23 June 2020 gave the coalition 171,825 votes and the PPP/C 166,343.
What It Means for You
Investors and companies in Guyana’s oil sector face no direct legal consequence from this case, which is a criminal trial of nine individuals, and the sources reviewed describe no challenge to the declared result. The trial does show that the 2020 dispute is still being tested in court more than six years later.
Readers who follow Guyana for business or travel can track the court calendar, which News Room Guyana said runs from 19 to 30 October and then from 16 to 27 November. Our Guyana explainer and our guide to Guyana’s role in Latin America give the wider picture.
Anyone planning a stay can read our guide to moving to Guyana and our expat cities pages for daily costs and visas. The trial is a courtroom process in Georgetown and does not by itself change those rules.
What Is Not Known
The Monday hearing is described in a DPI account carried by the Guyana Chronicle and the Guyana Standard, and no independent outlet’s report of that session was found. The testimony of the two immigration officers has therefore not been checked against a second, separate account.
The date of the next hearing and the timing of the cross-examination are not stated in the sources reviewed. Sources also differ on the expert’s police rank, so this article gives none.
The court has made no finding on who signed the disputed declarations, and the handwriting opinion has been challenged by the defence. Whether the evidence leads to convictions is for Magistrate Faith McGusty to decide after the full trial.
Frequently Asked Questions
What happened in the Guyana election fraud trial on 19 October?
Two immigration officers testified in Georgetown about the passport files of Volda Lawrence and Keith Lowenfield, which prosecutors use as signature samples. Cross-examination was put off to the next hearing.
Who is on trial in Guyana?
Nine people are on trial, including former Health Minister Volda Lawrence, former Chief Election Officer Keith Lowenfield and former Region Four returning officer Clairmont Mingo. The Guyana Chronicle reported that all have pleaded not guilty.
Does the passport evidence prove who signed the declaration?
No, because the handwriting expert’s opinion is evidence for the court to weigh and not a finding. The defence has challenged that opinion, and the magistrate has not ruled on it.
When does the trial resume?
News Room Guyana reported that sittings were planned from 19 to 30 October and then from 16 to 27 November. The sources reviewed do not give the date of the next hearing after 19 October.
Why does the case matter to US readers?
The 2020 dispute drew US visa restrictions announced by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on 15 July 2020. Guyana is also home to an ExxonMobil-led offshore oil block, so its political stability draws attention in the United States.
Sources: Guyana Standard (DPI account), 20 October 2026; Guyana Chronicle, 20 October 2026; Guyana Chronicle, 1 October 2026; Kaieteur News, 1 October 2026; News Room Guyana, 29 September 2026; News Room Guyana, 30 September 2026; Guyana Chronicle, 29 July 2024; Demerara Waves, 29 July 2024; News Room Guyana, 15 July 2020; Demerara Waves, 15 July 2020; ExxonMobil Guyana newsroom, 28 September 2026.
This article was produced by The Rio Times’ automated newsroom system. How we use AI · Report an error · Editorial responsibility: Matthias Camenzind, Editor-in-Chief