[pp.int.general] Collecting signatures for 2009 European Election, and other requirements

[Ole Husgaard]

Hi,

I have a local journalist who wants to write about the high number of
signatures needed in Denmark to participate in elections. So I am very
interested in this information.

Carlos Ayala skrev:
> In today's Pirate Manifesto session, Partia Piratow representative told that in Poland 100.000!!! signatures are required,
To be fair, only 5000 signatures are needed to run for elections. Poland
is divided into about 40 election districts, and you need 5000
signatures in a district to participate in elections in that district.
If you have your 5000 signatures in more than half the districts, you
can participate in elections in all districts.

> and Ole Husgaard talked about 70.000 in Denmark, Quite huge amounts, indeed.
And very hard to get: You have to get full name, address and SSN besides
the signature. And the signature has to be sent to the right one of
about 200 local cencus registration offices depending on the address of
the signer. The census office then certifies that the signature is good
and from a voter, and sends it back to the signer. The signer then has
to buy an envelope and stamp and mail his certified signature back to
the party (this extra step is called confirming the signature. In
particular the last step is bad. In reality we need to collect about
150000-200000 signatures to end up with the 70000 certified and
confirmed signatures. And this is in a country with only about 3.5
million voters.

>  How about the rest of pirate parties, which requirements do they have to face?
In Sweden they need 1500 signatures to participate in local parliament
elections. I don't know if the number of signatures is different for EP
elections in SE.

Best Regards,

Ole Husgaard.