The Election Codes prescribes the procedure which has not been changed by the 2003 amendments, for verifying the signatures necessary for the nomination of election subjects, as follows: “The election commission shall, at random and in an inconsistent manner, check the authenticity of 20% of the number of listed supporters. If not more than 10% thereof is deemed null and void, the election commission shall make an additional check of the same number of supporters applying the same procedure. If not less than 10% thereof is deemed null and void, the entire list shall be invalidated and the application for registration of the election subject shall be dismissed by the relevant ordinance of the election commission Chairperson” (Art. 42.2). This verification procedure would seem to be inappropriate. In principle, all signatures should be checked – at least until the required minimum number is reached. Corresponding to this, the “Code of Good Practice in Electoral Matters” of the Venice Commission (CDL-AD (2002) 23) stipulates that the checking process must in principle cover all signatures (point 1.3, item iv). Only if there is no doubt that the required number of valid signatures has been reached, do the remaining signatures not need to be checked.
