The Greater London Authority Elections Rules 2000

Attendance at counting of votes

39.—(1) The CRO shall make arrangements for counting the votes in the presence of the counting agents as soon as practicable after the close of the poll, and shall give to the counting agents notice in writing of the time and place at which he will begin to count the votes.

(2) No person other than—

(a) the CRO and his clerks,

(b) the candidates and their husbands or wives,

(c) the election agents,

(d) the counting agents,

may be present at the counting of the votes, unless permitted by the CRO to attend.

(3) A person not entitled to attend at the counting of the votes shall not be permitted to do so by the CRO unless the CRO—

(a) is satisfied that the efficient counting of the votes will not be impeded, and

(b) has either consulted the candidates or thought it impracticable to do so.

(4) The CRO shall give the counting agents all such reasonable facilities for overseeing the proceedings, and all such information with respect to them, as he can give them consistently with the orderly conduct of the proceedings and the discharge of his duties in connection with them.

(5) In particular, where the votes are counted by sorting the ballot papers according to the candidate for whom the vote is given and then counting the number of ballot papers for each candidate, the counting agents shall be entitled to satisfy themselves that the ballot papers are correctly sorted.