The representative assembly for which the election has been held shall examine the credentials immediately and decide whether to admit the appointee as a member of the assembly. In doing so, it shall ascertain that the appointee fulfils the requirements for membership and holds no position incompatible with membership, and shall settle any disputes which arise in connection with the credentials or the election itself. If the appointee will have reached the requisite age for membership before the first meeting of the newly elected assembly, account will be taken of this in reaching the decision. The examination of the credentials of members of the House of Representatives or Senate shall be regulated in the rules of procedure of the relevant House.
The examination of the credentials shall not extend to the validity of the lists of candidates or the combinations of lists.
In the case of the admission of a person appointed to fill a casual vacancy, the examination shall not extend to points involving the conduct of the election or the determination of the result.
For the purposes of the examination referred to in subsection 1, the representative assembly may decide on a re-count of the ballot papers from all or from one or more polling stations or provinces. The mayor who has the relevant ballot papers in his possession or the chairperson of the central electoral committee for an election to the Senate shall have them taken immediately to the representative assembly at its request. The representative assembly shall start the re-count immediately after receiving the ballot papers. To this end it shall be empowered to open the sealed packets and to compare the contents with the official reports of the electoral committees. Sections N 5, N 8 and N 9 shall apply mutatis mutandis to this re-count.
For the purposes of the examination referred to in subsection 1, the representative assembly shall also be empowered to open the sealed packets referred to in section N 2. The mayor who has the relevant packets in his possession shall have them taken immediately to the representative assembly at its request. Once the examination has been completed, the documents from the opened packets shall be repacked and sealed as prescribed in section N 2.
