(1) For the purpose of ascertaining whether an indicative referendum petition has, after the date on which the promoter received the written notice required by section 13(1)(a) of this Act, been signed by not less than 10 percent of the eligible electors, the Clerk of the House of Representatives shall, with the assistance of the Government Statistician,—
(a) Calculate the number of signatures that must be checked for the purpose of providing a sample that can, with confidence, be regarded as providing an accurate estimate of the result that would be obtained if all of the signatures were checked; and
(b) Take, from the signatures to the indicative referendum petition, the number of signatures calculated under paragraph (a) of this subsection.
(2) The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall give to the Chief Registrar of Electors the signatures taken under subsection (1)(b) of this section.
(3) The Chief Registrar of Electors shall check whether or not the signatories are eligible electors and shall give the result to the Clerk of the House of Representatives.
(4) The Clerk of the House of Representatives shall, on receiving the result, determine, with the assistance of the Government Statistician, whether or not the indicative referendum petition has, after the date on which the promoter received the written notice required by section 13(1)(a) of this Act, been signed by not less than 10 percent of the eligible electors.
Sections 18 to 20 were substituted, as from 6 December 1995, by section 6 Citizens Initiated Referenda Amendment Act 1995 (1995 No 62).