The President and Leader of the Opposition agreed on a recount. In their Aide Memoire, the word “recount” appears four times while the word “audit” does not appear. “Recount” was never defined, but the Aide Memoire stated that it would take place in accordance with “the applicable law,” as well as the Constitution and court decisions. It could only have meant the Representation of the Peoples Act (the Act) which is the only existing, applicable, law for a recount. There is nothing to suggest that when the leaders signed the Aide Memoire that they meant anything other than the recount process provided for by the Act.
Section 89 of the Act, provides for the recount of votes. The Returning Officer (RO) is required to: open each ballot box; take out the ballot papers; count and record the number of ballot papers taken from each ballot box; count the votes recorded for each list of candidates.
