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THIRD SCHEDULE.
Rules for Counting the Votes.
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1.(1) The presidential returning officer shall take up each of the parcels of valid ballot papers received by him from the local returning officers and shall note and record the number of ballot papers in each such parcel and the name of the candidate for whom the first preferences are recorded on such ballot papers as stated in the endorsements made on such parcels by the local returning officer.
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(2) The presidential returning officer may, if he so thinks proper, recount the number of ballot papers in any such parcel, check the allocation of ballot papers to such parcel, and make such (if any) alteration in the endorsement on such parcel as may be requisite in consequence of such recounting and checking.
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(3) The presidential returning officer shall not inquire into or consider the validity of any ballot paper in any such parcel.
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2. When the presidential returning officer has complied with the next preceding rule, he shall credit each candidate with a number of votes equal to the total number of ballot papers in the said parcels on which a first preference has been recorded for such candidate.
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3. The presidential returning officer shall then ascertain the full aggregate number of the ballot papers in all the said parcels and shall divide such aggregate number by two; the result of such division, increased by one, shall be the number (in this Schedule called the “quota” of votes sufficient to secure the election of a candidate.
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4. If at the end of any count the number of votes credited to a candidate is equal to or greater than the quota, that candidate shall be deemed to be elected and no further transfer of votes shall be made.
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5. (1) If at the end of any count no candidate is elected the presidential returning officer shall exclude the candidate credited with the lowest number of votes, and shall examine all the papers of that candidate, and shall arrange the transferable papers in sub-parcels according to the next available preferences recorded thereon for continuing candidates, and shall transfer each sub-parcel to the candidate for whom that preference is recorded, and shall make a separate sub-parcel of the non-transferable papers.
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(2) The papers in the sub-parcel of non-transferable papers shall be set aside as finally dealt with and shall in the certificate of the result of the election be dealt with as non-transferable papers not effective.
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(3) If the total of the votes of the two or more lowest candidates is less than the number of votes credited to the next highest candidate, the presidential returning officer may in one operation exclude those candidates and transfer their votes in accordance with paragraph (1) of this rule.
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(4) If, when a candidate has to be excluded under this Rule, two or more candidates have each the same number of votes and are lowest, regard shall be had to the number of original votes credited to each of those candidates, and the candidate with the smallest number of original votes shall be excluded, and, where the number of the original votes are equal, regard shall be had to the total numbers of votes credited to those candidates at the first count at which they had an unequal number of votes, and' the candidate with the lowest number of votes at that count shall be excluded, and, where the number of votes credited to those candidates were equal at all counts, the presidential returning officer shall determine by lot which shall be excluded.
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6. Whenever any transfer of votes is made under the next preceding rule, the candidate to whom the transfer is made shall be credited with a number of votes equal to the number of papers transferred to him.
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7. When the votes of some one continuing candidate (in this rule referred to as the first-mentioned candidate) exceed the total of all the votes of the other continuing candidates or candidate, the first-mentioned candidate shall thereupon be deemed to be elected and no further transfer of votes shall be made.
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8. (1) Any agent on behalf of a candidate may, at the conclusion of any count, request the presidential returning officer to re-examine and recount all or any of the papers dealt with during that count, and upon being so requested the presidential returning officer shall re-examine and recount accordingly the papers to which such request relates, but without making any alteration in the arrangement of the papers in the various parcels save where such alteration may be necessary in consequence of an error discovered in the recount.
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(2) It shall not be obligatory on the presidential returning officer to re-examine or recount more than once any parcel of papers in pursuance of the next preceding paragraph of this rule.
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(3) The presidential returning officer may, if he so thinks proper at any stage of the counting of the votes, re-examine and recount all or any parcels of papers (including the parcels received by him from local returning officers) and may repeat such re-examination and recounting as often as he considers necessary for securing the accuracy of the count.
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9. If any question shall arise in relation to the exclusion of any candidate or to the transfer of any votes, the decision of the presidential returning officer, whether expressed or implied by his acts, shall be final.
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10. A ballot paper shall be deemed to have become a non-transferable paper whenever—
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(a) the names of two or more candidates (whether continuing or not) are marked on such ballot paper with the same number and are next in order of preference, or
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(b) the name of the candidate next in order of preference (whether continuing or not) is marked on such ballot paper either by a number not following consecutively after some other number on the ballot paper or by two or more numbers, or
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(c) such ballot paper is void for uncertainty.
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11. In these rules—
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the expression “continuing candidate” means a candidate not deemed to be elected and not excluded;
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the expression “first preference” means the figure “1” standing alone set opposite the name of the candidate in such manner as to indicate a first preference for that candidate;
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the expression “second preference” means the figure “2” standing alone in succession to the figure “1” and set opposite the name of a candidate in such manner as to indicate a second preference for that candidate;
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the expression “the next available preference” means a second or subsequent preference recorded in consecutive numerical order for a continuing candidate, preferences for candidates already excluded being ignored;
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the expression “transferable paper” means a ballot paper on which, following a first preference, a second or subsequent preference is recorded in consecutive numerical order for a continuing candidate;
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the expression “non-transferable paper” means a ballot paper on which no second or subsequent preference is recorded in consecutive numerical order for a continuing candidate, and includes a paper which is deemed by the next preceding rule to have become a non-transferable paper;
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the expression “original vote” in regard to any candidate means a vote derived from a ballot paper on which a first preference is recorded for that candidate;
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the expression “transferred vote” in regard to any candidate means a vote derived from a ballot paper on which a second or subsequent preference is recorded for that candidate;
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the word “count” means all the operations involved in the transfer of the votes of an excluded candidate and also includes (where the context so permits) all the operations involved in the counting of the first preferences recorded for candidates so far as such operations are performed by the presidential returning officer;
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the expression “deemed to be elected” means deemed to be elected for the purpose of the counting of the votes, but without prejudice to the declaration of the result of the poll;
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the expression “determine by lot” means determine in accordance with the following direction, that is to say, the names of the candidates concerned having been written on similar slips of paper and such slips having been folded so as to prevent identification and mixed and drawn at random, the candidate or candidates shall be excluded in the order in which their names are drawn.
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