ELECTORAL ACT ____________________________________________________________________________________ 61 Procedure at close of poll The presiding officer shall, immediately after the close of the poll, in the presence of such candidates and their chief election agents or election agents as are present— (a) close and seal the aperture in the ballot box; and [Paragraph as substituted by s. 44 of Act No. 17 of 2007] (b) make up into separate packets sealed with his or her own seal and with the seals of those candidates and election agents, if any, who desire to affix their seals— (i) the unused and spoilt ballot papers and counterfoils of the unused ballot papers placed together; (ii) the counterfoils of the used ballot papers, including the counterfoils of the spoilt ballot papers; (iii) the register of assisted voters. [Subparagraph substituted by s. 27 of Act No. 6 of 2014] 62 Procedure after sealing of ballot boxes (1) The presiding officer shall, as soon as the last packet is sealed in terms of paragraph (b) of section sixty-one, open and unseal the ballot boxes and count the votes. (2) At the counting of the votes the following persons and no others may be present— (a) the presiding officer and such polling officers as he or she may consider necessary and not more than the prescribed number of monitors and observers; and (b) the candidates, and every chief election agent and election agent of each candidate (or, if section 95(5) applies, of each political party) who, at the time of the commencement of the counting, is present within the polling station or in the immediate vicinity of the polling station: Provided that a candidate or his or her chief election agent or election agent may not be present at the counting of the votes at an election for which that candidate was not nominated; and [Paragraph substituted by s. 28 of Act No. 6 of 2014] (c) any roving political party election agent who, at the time of the commencement of the counting, is present within the polling station or in the immediate vicinity of the polling station. [Paragraph inserted by s. 28 of Act No. 6 of 2014] (2a) For the avoidance of doubt it is declared that the proviso to subsection (2)(b) does not prevent a candidate or his or her chief election agent or election agent from being present at the counting of the votes for a Presidential election or general election of members of Parliament or councillors which takes place concurrently with the election for which he or she was nominated, so long as the counting of the votes for the elections in question are held concurrently at the polling station concerned. [Subsection inserted by s. 45 of Act No. 17 of 2007 and amended by s. 28 of Act No. 6 of 2014] (3) At the time for the counting of the votes referred to in subsection (1) and in the presence of such persons referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (2) and candidates and their chief election agents or election agents as are present, the presiding officer shall adopt the following procedure in relation to each ballot box and the sealed packets in his or her custody— (a) he or she shall open the ballot box; (b) he or she shall then open each sealed packet containing the unused and spoilt ballot papers and the register of assisted voters. [Paragraph amended by s. 28 of Act No. 6 of 2014] 63 Counting and rejection of votes (1) At the time notified by the presiding officer the votes shall be counted in the manner provided by this section. (2) The ballot papers in each ballot box shall be counted separately. [Subsection as amended by s. 87 of Act No. 17 of 2007] 81