The National Election Committee, acting within its competence laid down in Section 34 (2) a) of Act C of 1997 on the electoral procedure (hereinafter: Ve.), issues the following

resolution

on the validity of signatures collected in support of a national referendum and a popular initiative.

According to the provisions of Section 4 (1) of Act III of 1998 on national referendums and popular initiatives, the National Election Committee is responsible for checking the signatures of a citizen's initiative aimed at calling a referendum or a popular initiative.

According to Section 118 (2) of Act C of 1997 on the electoral procedure, the provisions of Sections 46 (2) and (4), 48, 50 (1) c) and (2), as well as Sections 54, 59, and 60 shall be applied mutatis mutandis to the collection of signatures, with the deviations laid down in Chapter XIII.

With regard to Sections 54 (1)-(2), the recommendations must be checked by the competent election committee. The checking of the recommendations means checking the numerical data and the provisions of Section 46 (2) and Section 50 (1) a)-b) and (2)-(3) of the act, as well as the identification of the voters who submitted the recommendation slip.

According to the provisions of Section 50 (1) b), a recommendation is invalid if it was not submitted on a recommendation slip filled out according to Section 47 (2).

According to Section 47 (2), the recommendation slip sent to the voters contains the name of the election. The recommending voter enters their family name and first name, place of residence, personal identification number, the family name and first name of the recommended person, the name of the nominating organization, or the fact of the independent nomination on the recommendation slip.

According to Section 118 (4), in addition to the handwritten signature, the readable family name and first name, place of residence, and personal identification number of the initiator must be indicated on the signature sheets for the purpose of checking the authenticity of the signature.

Based on Section 119 (1), the checking of signatures means establishing the number of signatures that can be considered valid by statistical and mathematical methods, using the data of the voters who signed the referendum initiative from the personal data and address register, as well as the register of adult citizens without voting rights. If the statistical and mathematical method used does not make it probable that there is a sufficient number of valid signatures, the checking of the signatures must be continued by a detailed examination of the signatures until the validity or invalidity of the initiative can be established without a doubt.

According to the provisions of Section 149 q) of the act, place of residence: the address of the flat or - in the absence of a flat, with the exception of Hungarian and non-Hungarian citizens living abroad - the room or accommodation used out of necessity, which the voter uses as their home on a long-term basis, provided that it has been registered as a place of residence in the personal data and address register.

In its Resolution 2/1990. (II. 18.) AB - concerning the recommendation slips collected during the parliamentary election procedure - the Constitutional Court established: "It is unquestionable that the recommendation slip contains several pieces of data on the basis of which the identity of the voter can be established separately. However, in this case, in the opinion of the Constitutional Court, this cannot be considered as an unjustified "over-guarantee", but as a guarantee serving the legality of the elections, since in this way, even if an identifying data - e.g. the personal identification number - becomes known to an unauthorized person and is used without authorization, the falsification of the recommendation slip can be detected with relatively high certainty."

The National Election Committee establishes that this principle also applies to the collection of signatures, and this ensures that the voter supporting the question is indeed the person who signed the sheet.

According to the National Election Committee, during the collection of signatures for a national referendum and popular initiative, the voter must indicate their readable family name and first name, place of residence, and personal identification number for the purpose of checking the authenticity of the signature, according to the legal provisions.

With regard to the personal data used for authentication, the legal regulation does not allow for any deviation, therefore every voter who supports the initiative must indicate them completely. During the checking of the signatures, therefore, only that signature can be accepted as authentic which is accompanied by the complete and readable indication of the place of residence, the personal identification number, and the family name and first name.

Incomplete or illegibly indicated data do not allow for the authentication of the signature, therefore they cannot be considered valid signatures.

Budapest, 12 May 2005.

Dr. Lajos Ficzere
President of the National Election Committee