Who may propose the registration of an initiative?

Law on National Referendums, Legislative Initiativesand European Citizens’ Initiative (lastamended in 2014)
 

http://web.cvk.lv/pub/public/28862.html

Article 22

(1) Not fewer than one-tenth of Latvian citizens eligible to vote, upon indicating their full name and ID number, shall have the right to submit to the Central Election Commission a fully elaborated draft law or draft amendment to the Constitution. A draft law or a draft amendment to the Constitution may be submitted within 12 months from the day the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution is registered at the Central Election Commission.

(2) In the course of these 12 months, each signature shall be certified by a notary public, local government institution at the registered place of residence, orphans’ court which fulfils the function of notary public, or a chairperson of a parish or a city council of the respective county. Certified signatures shall be collected on a signature sheet approved by the Central Election Commission.

(3) The fee for certification of signatures collected in support of a draft law or a draft amendment to the Constitution performed by an orphans’ court or local government institution, is established by taking into account administrative expenses for signature certification which shall not exceed half of the statutory sum required for certifying authenticity of a signature in an orphan’s court.

(4) If identification of signatories and protection of natural persons’ data are ensured, signatures can be collected online via the Single State and Local Government Service Portal (www.latvija.lv) or other online system chosen by the initiative group for the respective purpose. The owner (administrator) of the Single State and Local Government Service Portal shall not collect payment from signatories.

(5) The Cabinet of Ministers shall set the safety and technical requirements that have to be met if the Single State and Local Government Service Portal (www.latvija.lv) or other online system is used for signature collection, and the Cabinet of Ministers shall appoint an institution that evaluates compliance of the respective online system with these safety and technical requirements. Certification of compliance shall not be carried out for the signature collection system of the Single State and Local Government Service Portal.

(6) Refusal of the institution appointed by the Cabinet of Ministers to issue a certificate confirming the compliance of the online system with the requirements provided by laws and regulations can be appealed in accordance with the Administrative Procedure Law.

Article 23

(1) An initiative group shall be formed to collect signatures in support of a draft law or a draft amendment to the Constitution.

(2) The initiative group may be:

1) a political party or alliance of political parties;

2) an association of at least 10 electors formed and registered in accordance with the procedure prescribed by the Associations and Foundations Law.

(3) The initiative group shall submit to the Central Election Commission a submission and the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution in support of which signature collection will be carried out.

(4) The Central Election Commission shall make one of the following decisions within 45 days:

1) to register the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution;

2) to set a term for correcting any faults in the submission and the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution;

3) to reject registration of the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution in cases referred to in Paragraph 5 of this Article;

(5) The Central Election Commission shall reject registration of the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution if:

1) the initiative group does not comply with the requirements prescribed in Paragraph 2 of this Article;

2) the draft law or the draft amendment to the Constitution is incomplete in form or content.

(6) When deciding upon a draft law or a draft amendment to the Constitution submitted by the initiative group, the Central Election Commission may request state and local government institutions to provide additional information, explanations and conclusions, and the Commission may also consult with experts.