Francis Michael Bailey took the witness stand for the first time on Wednesday and gave evidence-in-chief before Principal Magistrate Faith McGusty in the Georgetown Magistrates’ Court, before being cross-examined by defence attorney Eusi Anderson in the ongoing 2020 election fraud trial.
Bailey told the court that his involvement in the March 2020 general and regional elections was indirect, through the Guyana National Youth Council’s “Vote Like a Boss” voter education campaign, which he described as non-partisan.
He said the campaign involved travelling across the country, conducting workshops, setting up mock polling booths and liaising with GECOM officials to ensure that information being given to voters was accurate.
Bailey also gave evidence about a 2015 forum at German’s Restaurant involving GECOM officials, including Keith Lowenfield, which he attended and recorded with a DSLR camera.
He said the original footage was subsequently lost after his computer was infected by a CryptoWall virus that encrypted his files. However, police later provided him with a copy of the recording, which he identified as containing his voice and being a recording he had made.
During cross-examination, Anderson questioned Bailey about his qualifications and his ability to determine whether the video had been edited or tampered with.
Bailey acknowledged that he had not conducted any technical examination of the footage, although he said his background in multimedia and audio production gave him confidence that the voice in the recording was his.
Anderson then questioned Bailey about the alleged rigging of the 2020 elections.
Asked whether he had evidence of any of the nine defendants attempting to rig the elections, or conspired together to do so, Bailey responded, “No, I do not.”
Bailey said his role was to gather and communicate information to young people through a non-partisan voter education initiative and that he was not conducting an investigation into the elections.
He also told the court that he had observed inconsistencies surrounding the electoral process and had seen people blaming both the PNC and PPP for issues that occurred. However, he said he did not have the empirical data necessary to determine what had happened.
Bailey stressed that he was not an expert on electoral matters and distinguished his firsthand observations from his opinions.
