Any person desiring to become a candidate for city office, shall by twelve noon of the Tuesday preceding by ten weeks the first Tuesday in April, of an election year, file with the city clerk a statement of such candidacy on a form furnished by the county election officer as specified by the secretary of state. The city clerk upon receiving any such filing shall record the same and transmit it, together with the filing fee or petition herein provided, forthwith to the county election officer. Each such filing shall be accompanied by a filing fee of ten dollars ($10.00) or in lieu thereof a petition signed by fifty (50) qualified electors of the city or by a number of such qualified electors equal to not less than one percent of the ballots cast and counted at the last general city election, whichever is the lesser. (Prior code § 8-209 (part))