Most of the states that have local or regional referendums allow referendums at the request of part of the electorate. Where national law provides that the deliberative body is free to decide whether or not to hold a referendum following such a request, the number of signatures required is generally fairly low: at local level, in Estonia, 1% of the population, but at least 5 signatures; in Finland, 5% of voters. By contrast, where a request for a referendum must be followed by a popular vote, the number of signatures required is often higher: 30% of voters in municipalities with up to 3000 inhabitants in the Czech Republic, 20% in “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia”, 10% in Malta and Albania (but no more than 20 000 in the latter), but 5% in Armenia and Russia. In Bulgaria, requests for referendums must be supported by at least a quarter of registered voters, but a municipal council is obliged to hold a ballot only if it is requested by half of the registered voters. In Italy, a regional referendum may be requested by 20 % of the region’s voters.