Electoral threshold

In the political entities which adopted, on a purely principal or complementary basis, a electoral system proportional, a electoral threshold was often founded with an aim of avoiding the crumbling of the political representation.

Concretely, it is about a minimal percentage of the votes expressed below which a list is not included in the distribution of the seats.

In Germany, in Belgium, Estonia, Hungary (10% for the trust S), in Latvia, Lithuania (7% for the trust S) and in Poland (8% for the trust S), this threshold is of 5%, in Austria, Norway and Sweden of 4%, in Spain, Greece and Ukraine of 3%, Israel and with the Denmark of 2%.

In Turkey, it is of 10% at the national level, a list which obtains 50% in a provincial district but 9% at the national level thus do not obtain any deputy. In 2002, this rule led to the parliamentary not-representation of 45% of the voters, only two parties having exceeded the threshold. At the time of the last legislative elections (July 2007), this threshold was circumvented via the presentation of candidates (wrongfully) independent, not fixed with the electoral threshold, who thus were elected and are " réaffiliés" with their party of origin at the time of the installation of the new elected Parliament.

In France, there exist alternatives of this concept, for the access of the candidates to the second turn in the case of the elections to the majority Uninominal system to two turns, or for the access of the lists to the second turn in the case of the municipal elections and regional.

In certain political entities, exemptions from the electoral threshold were founded in order to allow the representation of recognized minorities.

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