always said what it meant and meant what it said. There was therefore nothing in Ms David’s Application to trigger the Court of Appeal’s jurisdiction under Article 177(4). [44] Counsel for Mr Harmon submitted that the Court of Appeal limited its jurisdiction to interpreting the words of Article 177(2)(b) ‘more votes are cast’ to mean ‘more valid votes are cast’, thereby bringing their decision within the purview of Article 177(4). That argument is to no avail. The concept of “valid votes” is well known to the legislative framework governing the electoral process. The concept has a particular meaning in that context. The phrase appears several times in the Representation of the People Act. 47 As we saw at [9] above, section 96 of that Act, for example, contains that precise phrase. That section calls on the Chief Election Officer to calculate ‘the total number of valid votes of electors which have been cast for each list of candidates’ (emphasis added). [45] Validity in this context means, and could only mean, those votes that, ex facie, are valid. The determination of such validity is a transparent exercise that weeds out of the process, for example, spoilt or rejected ballots. 48 This is an exercise conducted in the presence of, inter alia, the duly appointed candidates and counting agents of contesting parties.49 It is after such invalid votes are weeded out that the remaining “valid votes” count towards a determination of not only the members of the National Assembly but, incidentally as well, the various listed Presidential candidates. If the integrity of a ballot, or the manner in which a vote was procured, is questioned beyond this validation exercise, say because of some fundamental irregularity such as those alleged by Mr Harmon, then that would be a matter that must be pursued through Article 163 after the elections have been concluded. [46] At the point in the electoral process where Article 177(2)(b) is reached, there is no further need to reference “valid votes” because, subject to Article 163 (which is triggered by election petition after the election), the relevant validation process has 47 48 49 See for example, sections 11C, 84, 89, and 94 of the Constitution to name a few. See RPA (n 8), s 87, particularly ss (3), (4) and (5). See RPA (n 8), s 86(1).