(1) The local election office shall verify the signatures. Signatures on signature gathering forms submitted under section 47 (2), and signatures gathered in violation of the provisions set out in section 45, shall not be verified by the local election office.

(2) In verifying the signatures, it shall be checked whether the requirements referred to in section 44 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

(3) 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.

(4) The detailed verification of signatures shall continue until it can be ascertained whether the number of valid signatures reaches or stays below the number of voters required for initiating a local referendum.

(5) During the verification of signatures, a person representing the organiser may be present.

(6) The signatures shall be verified within forty-five days after the date of submission of the signature gathering forms.

(7) The local election office shall inform the local election commission of the findings of the verification of the signatures. The findings of the verification of the signatures shall be established by the local election commission in a conclusive decision.