Italian Constitutional Court (Corte costituzionale italiana), No. 48/2021, 26 March 2021

Presentation of the electoral lists of candidates and subscription of a minimum number of 1500 voters.

Article 1, paragraph 2, Constitution

Art. 3, Constitution
Art. 48, paragraph 2, Constitution
Art. 51, paragraph 1, Constitution
Art. 117, paragraph 1, Constitution
Art. 3, Prot. 1 ECHR
Art. 18 bis, comma 1, DPR n. 361 del 30/03/1957

1. The obligation to collect a minimum number of subscriptions for the presentation of lists of candidates is aimed at ensuring the genuineness of the electoral contest and the seriousness of the candidatures, the ultimate good of which is intimately linked to the democratic principle of popular representation: it is a question of ensuring the smooth running of the electoral operations and the free and effective exercise of the right to vote.

2. The questions of constitutional legitimacy of Article 18-bis, paragraph 1, of Presidential Decree No. 361 of 1957, raised by the Court of Rome in reference to Articles 1, paragraph 2, 3, 48, paragraph 2, 51, paragraph 1, and 117, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, are declared unfounded, the latter in relation to Article 3 of the Additional Protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights, insofar as it provides, for the declaration of presentation of the lists of candidates for the allocation of seats in the plurinominal constituency, the subscription of at least 1,500 voters (half in the case of early dissolution of more than 120 days from the natural expiry of the Chambers), instead of these numbers reduced to a quarter.
(The Ordinary Court of Rome, by order of 1 September 2020, raised questions of the constitutionality of Article 18-bis, paragraphs 1 and 2, of Presidential Decree no. 361 of 30 March 1957 for violation of Articles 1, paragraph 2; 3; 48, paragraph 2; 51, paragraph 1, and 117, paragraph 1, of the Constitution, the latter in relation to Article 3 of the Additional Protocol to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, signed in Paris on 20 March 1952).