(1) The National Election Office shall verify the signatures. Signatures on signature gathering forms submitted under section 19 (4), and signatures gathered in violation of the provisions set out in section 16, shall not be verified by the National Election Office.

(2) In the approval process of more than one question on the same subject, the signatures on the signature gathering forms that were submitted first shall be verified first.

(3) In verifying the signatures, it shall be checked whether the requirements referred to in section 15 are complied with, the citizens signing the initiative shall be identified, it shall be established whether they have the right of suffrage and the number of valid signatures shall be determined.

(4) For identifying the citizens signing the initiative and establishing whether they have the right of suffrage, the data indicated on the signature gathering forms shall be compared with information in the central electoral register.

(5) The detailed verification of signatures shall continue until one of the following can be ascertained:

a) the number of valid signatures attains two hundred thousand, or

b) the number of valid signatures remains under one hundred thousand, or

c) the number of valid signatures attains one hundred thousand but does not attain two hundred thousand.

(6) If a final and binding conclusive decision under section 22 (3) by the National Election Commission establishes that the number of valid signatures is at least two hundred thousand, or if the National Assembly ordered the referendum pursuant to the second sentence of Article 8 (1) of the Fundamental Law with final and binding effect, the signatures in a referendum initiative on the same subject need not be verified in detail.

(7) If a final and binding conclusive decision under section 22 (3) by the National Election Commission establishes that the number of valid signatures is at least two hundred thousand, but the decision by the National Assembly ordering the referendum does not become final and binding by virtue of section 33 of Act CLI of 2011 on the Constitutional Court, the signatures in a referendum initiative on the same subject shall be verified in detail after the publication of the Constitutional Court decision.

(8) When establishing the number of signatures, the number of voters supporting the submission for approval of the initiative shall also be taken into account.

(9) The National Election Office shall inform the National Election Commission about the findings of the verification of signatures.