Election threshold
Encyclopedia
In party-list proportional representation
systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament. The effect of the threshold is to deny small parties the right of representation or force them into coalitions, with the presumption of rendering the election system more stable by keeping out radical factions. It is also argued that in the absence of a preferential
ballot system supporters of minor parties are effectively disenfranchised and denied the right of representation by someone of their choosing.
's Sejm
and Germany
's Bundestag
(elected through the Additional member system
), this threshold is 5% (or 3 constituency seats in the Bundestag, but directly won constituencies are kept, regardless). New Zealand
's House of Representatives
also has a 5% threshold, but if a party wins at least one electorate seat the threshold does not apply, see Electoral system of New Zealand
. The threshold is 2% in Israel
's Knesset
(it was 1% before 1992 and 1.5% from 1992–2003), and 10% in the Turkish
parliament. In Poland, ethnic minority parties do not have to reach the threshold level to get into the parliament, and so there is always a small German minority representation in the Sejm
. In Romania
, for the ethnic minority parties there is a different threshold than for the national parties that run for the Chamber of Deputies
.
There are also countries – such as Portugal
, South Africa
, Finland
, the Netherlands
, and the Republic of Macedonia
– that have proportional representation systems without a threshold, although the Netherlands has a rule that the first seat can never be a remainder seat, which means that there is an effective threshold of 100% divided by the total number of seats. In the Slovenia
n parliamentary elections of 1992 and 1996 the threshold was set at 3 parliamentary seats. This meant that the parties needed to win about 3.2% of the votes in order to pass the threshold. In 2000 the threshold was raised to 4% of the votes.
In Sweden, there is a nationwide threshold of 4%, but if a party reaches 12% in one election district, it will be represented even if it does not reach the 4% level nationally. However, through the 2010 election, nobody has been elected based on the 12% rule. In Norway
the nationwide electoral threshold of 4% applies only to leveling seat
s. A party with sufficient local support may still win the regular district seats, even if the party fails to meet the threshold. Following the 2009 election, the Liberal Party won two seats in this manner.
In Australia
, which uses a single transferable vote
proportional representation
system, they avoided the need for an electoral threshold by establishing smaller electorates with each multi-member electorate returning fewer members of a Parliament and as such requiring a higher quota
percentage in order to be elected. As Australia also uses a preferential voting
system supporters of minor parties are not disenfranchised as their votes are redistributed to other candidates according to the voter's nominated order of preference which can then form part of another candidates winning quota.
In elections to the Danish Folketing
, the electoral threshold is two percent of the valid votes cast in the election.
In the United States
, as the majority of elections are conducted under the first past the post system, election thresholds do not apply in the actual voting. However, several states have threshold requirements for parties to obtain automatic ballot access to the next general election without having to submit voter-signed petitions. The threshold requirements have no bearing on the two main political parties (the Republican and Democrat Parties) as they easily meet the requirements, but have come into play for minor parties such as the Green and Libertarian Parties. The threshold rules also apply for independent candidates to obtain ballot access.
Countries can have more than one threshold. Germany, as mentioned earlier, has a "regular" threshold of 5%, but a party winning three constituency seats in the Bundestag can gain additional representation even if it has achieved under 5% of the total vote. Most multiple-threshold systems are still in the proposal stage. For example, in Canada
, one proposal to reform the electoral system would see a 5% national threshold, 1% of the vote and 1 seat in the House of Commons, or 2% nationally and 15% of the vote in any one province.
In the elections to the House of Representatives of the Philippines
, one-fifth of the 286 seats (57) is allocated to the party-list system. The enabling law called for a 2% threshold with the country as one district; since there was a high number of contesting parties, only a few parties passed the threshold and thus the party-list members never comprised 20% of the seats. In a Supreme Court
decision, the 2% threshold was retained, but if the number of members does not reach 20% of the total seats, seats with less than 2% of the vote will get one seat each until the party-list members comprise 20% of the seats.
Election thresholds are often implemented with the intention of bringing stability to the political system.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
recommends for parliamentary elections a threshold not higher than 3%.
At the Russian parliamentary elections in 1995
, with a threshold excluding parties under 5%, more than 45% of votes were unrepresented (in 1998, Russian Constitutional Court found the threshold legal, taking into account limits in its use).
A similar problem happened in Turkey
, mainly due to the 10% threshold of the Turkish system, an extremely high value that is unique. Such a system was established with the justification of preventing multi-party coalitions and put a stop to the endless fragmentation of political parties seen in '60s and '70s. However, coalitions ruled between 1991 and 2002, mainstream parties continued to be fragmented and as a serious side effect, the 2002 elections
caused 45% of votes (cast for below-threshold parties) to be unrepresented in the parliament.
In the Ukrainian
elections of March 2006, for which there was a 3% threshold, 22% of voters were effectively disenfranchised, having voted for minor candidates – and the representation of parties exceeding the threshold was increased to a level 22% higher than that corresponding to their share of the voters' support. One party, People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko
, received over 3% of the formal vote but failed to obtain 3% of the overall vote (which includes informal ballot papers, i.e. votes that are blank or incorrectly filled out). Likewise in 2007 the Socialist Party of Ukraine
received only 2.86% of the national vote. Had they secured an additional 0.14% the overall results of the parliamentary election
would have been more or less the same as the previous election
. However as fewer voters supported minor parties the total percentage of disenfranchised voters in 2007 was less than the previous election in 2006.
Election thresholds can produce a spoiler effect
, similar to that in the First-past-the-post voting system
, where minor parties unable to overcome thresholds take votes away from other parties with similar ideologies. Fledgling parties in these systems often find themselves in a vicious circle
– if a party is perceived as having no chance of meeting the threshold, it often cannot gain popular support, and if the party cannot gain popular support, it will continue to have little or no chance of meeting the threshold.
By comparison, elections involving a Preferential
voting system permit votes for candidates below the threshold to be redistributed according to the voter's indicated preference. This permits the continued participation in the election process of those whose votes would otherwise be "wasted" and minor vote candidates are able to indicate to their supporters before the vote how they would wish to see their votes transferred. Preferential voting is widely used in Australia
and Ireland
.
Party-list proportional representation
Party-list proportional representation systems are a family of voting systems emphasizing proportional representation in elections in which multiple candidates are elected...
systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes, either nationally or within a particular district, to obtain any seats in the parliament. The effect of the threshold is to deny small parties the right of representation or force them into coalitions, with the presumption of rendering the election system more stable by keeping out radical factions. It is also argued that in the absence of a preferential
Preferential voting
Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of relative preference. For example, the voter may select their first choice as '1', their second preference a '2', and so on...
ballot system supporters of minor parties are effectively disenfranchised and denied the right of representation by someone of their choosing.
Election thresholds in various countries
In PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
's Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
and Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
's Bundestag
Bundestag
The Bundestag is a federal legislative body in Germany. In practice Germany is governed by a bicameral legislature, of which the Bundestag serves as the lower house and the Bundesrat the upper house. The Bundestag is established by the German Basic Law of 1949, as the successor to the earlier...
(elected through the Additional member system
Additional Member System
The Additional Member System is the term used in the United Kingdom for the mixed member proportional representation voting system used in Scotland, Wales and the London Assembly....
), this threshold is 5% (or 3 constituency seats in the Bundestag, but directly won constituencies are kept, regardless). New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
's House of Representatives
New Zealand House of Representatives
The New Zealand House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the legislature of New Zealand. The House and the Queen of New Zealand form the New Zealand Parliament....
also has a 5% threshold, but if a party wins at least one electorate seat the threshold does not apply, see Electoral system of New Zealand
Electoral system of New Zealand
In 1994 New Zealand officially adopted mixed member proportional representation as its electoral system for the House of Representatives after many years of first-past-the-post voting. The first MMP election was held in 1996....
. The threshold is 2% in Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
's Knesset
Knesset
The Knesset is the unicameral legislature of Israel, located in Givat Ram, Jerusalem.-Role in Israeli Government :The legislative branch of the Israeli government, the Knesset passes all laws, elects the President and Prime Minister , approves the cabinet, and supervises the work of the government...
(it was 1% before 1992 and 1.5% from 1992–2003), and 10% in the Turkish
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
parliament. In Poland, ethnic minority parties do not have to reach the threshold level to get into the parliament, and so there is always a small German minority representation in the Sejm
Sejm
The Sejm is the lower house of the Polish parliament. The Sejm is made up of 460 deputies, or Poseł in Polish . It is elected by universal ballot and is presided over by a speaker called the Marshal of the Sejm ....
. In Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
, for the ethnic minority parties there is a different threshold than for the national parties that run for the Chamber of Deputies
Chamber of Deputies of Romania
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house in Romania's bicameral parliament. It has 315 seats, to which deputies are elected by direct popular vote on a proportional representation basis to serve four-year terms...
.
There are also countries – such as Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
, South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, and the Republic of Macedonia
Republic of Macedonia
Macedonia , officially the Republic of Macedonia , is a country located in the central Balkan peninsula in Southeast Europe. It is one of the successor states of the former Yugoslavia, from which it declared independence in 1991...
– that have proportional representation systems without a threshold, although the Netherlands has a rule that the first seat can never be a remainder seat, which means that there is an effective threshold of 100% divided by the total number of seats. In the Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
n parliamentary elections of 1992 and 1996 the threshold was set at 3 parliamentary seats. This meant that the parties needed to win about 3.2% of the votes in order to pass the threshold. In 2000 the threshold was raised to 4% of the votes.
In Sweden, there is a nationwide threshold of 4%, but if a party reaches 12% in one election district, it will be represented even if it does not reach the 4% level nationally. However, through the 2010 election, nobody has been elected based on the 12% rule. In Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
the nationwide electoral threshold of 4% applies only to leveling seat
Leveling seat
Leveling seats are a mechanism employed in Norwegian elections to the national legislature, the Storting, and in Swedish elections to national and regional assemblies, to ensure proportional representation both by county and political party...
s. A party with sufficient local support may still win the regular district seats, even if the party fails to meet the threshold. Following the 2009 election, the Liberal Party won two seats in this manner.
In Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, which uses a single transferable vote
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
proportional representation
Proportional representation
Proportional representation is a concept in voting systems used to elect an assembly or council. PR means that the number of seats won by a party or group of candidates is proportionate to the number of votes received. For example, under a PR voting system if 30% of voters support a particular...
system, they avoided the need for an electoral threshold by establishing smaller electorates with each multi-member electorate returning fewer members of a Parliament and as such requiring a higher quota
Droop Quota
The Droop quota is the quota most commonly used in elections held under the Single Transferable Vote system. It is also sometimes used in elections held under the largest remainder method of party-list proportional representation . In an STV election the quota is the minimum number of votes a...
percentage in order to be elected. As Australia also uses a preferential voting
Preferential voting
Preferential voting is a type of ballot structure used in several electoral systems in which voters rank candidates in order of relative preference. For example, the voter may select their first choice as '1', their second preference a '2', and so on...
system supporters of minor parties are not disenfranchised as their votes are redistributed to other candidates according to the voter's nominated order of preference which can then form part of another candidates winning quota.
In elections to the Danish Folketing
Folketing
The Folketing , is the national parliament of Denmark. The name literally means "People's thing"—that is, the people's governing assembly. It is located in Christiansborg Palace, on the islet of Slotsholmen in central Copenhagen....
, the electoral threshold is two percent of the valid votes cast in the election.
In the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, as the majority of elections are conducted under the first past the post system, election thresholds do not apply in the actual voting. However, several states have threshold requirements for parties to obtain automatic ballot access to the next general election without having to submit voter-signed petitions. The threshold requirements have no bearing on the two main political parties (the Republican and Democrat Parties) as they easily meet the requirements, but have come into play for minor parties such as the Green and Libertarian Parties. The threshold rules also apply for independent candidates to obtain ballot access.
Countries can have more than one threshold. Germany, as mentioned earlier, has a "regular" threshold of 5%, but a party winning three constituency seats in the Bundestag can gain additional representation even if it has achieved under 5% of the total vote. Most multiple-threshold systems are still in the proposal stage. For example, in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, one proposal to reform the electoral system would see a 5% national threshold, 1% of the vote and 1 seat in the House of Commons, or 2% nationally and 15% of the vote in any one province.
In the elections to the House of Representatives of the Philippines
House of Representatives of the Philippines
The House of Representatives of the Philippines is the lower chamber of the...
, one-fifth of the 286 seats (57) is allocated to the party-list system. The enabling law called for a 2% threshold with the country as one district; since there was a high number of contesting parties, only a few parties passed the threshold and thus the party-list members never comprised 20% of the seats. In a Supreme Court
Supreme Court of the Philippines
The Supreme Court of the Philippines is the Philippines' highest judicial court, as well as the court of last resort. The court consists of 14 Associate Justices and 1 Chief Justice...
decision, the 2% threshold was retained, but if the number of members does not reach 20% of the total seats, seats with less than 2% of the vote will get one seat each until the party-list members comprise 20% of the seats.
Election thresholds are often implemented with the intention of bringing stability to the political system.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe , which held its first session in Strasbourg on 10 August 1949, can be considered the oldest international parliamentary assembly with a pluralistic composition of democratically elected members of parliament established on the basis of an...
recommends for parliamentary elections a threshold not higher than 3%.
The amount of unrepresented vote
Election thresholds can sometimes seriously affect the relation between the percentage of the popular vote and seat distribution.At the Russian parliamentary elections in 1995
Russian legislative election, 1995
Legislative elections were held in the Russian Federation on December 17, 1995. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma , the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia ....
, with a threshold excluding parties under 5%, more than 45% of votes were unrepresented (in 1998, Russian Constitutional Court found the threshold legal, taking into account limits in its use).
A similar problem happened in Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, mainly due to the 10% threshold of the Turkish system, an extremely high value that is unique. Such a system was established with the justification of preventing multi-party coalitions and put a stop to the endless fragmentation of political parties seen in '60s and '70s. However, coalitions ruled between 1991 and 2002, mainstream parties continued to be fragmented and as a serious side effect, the 2002 elections
Turkish general election, 2002
Turkey's 15th general election was held on November 3, 2002 following the collapse of the DSP-MHP-ANAP coalition led by Bülent Ecevit. It was won by the Justice and Development Party , led by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, producing a crushing majority in spite of their winning just 34.3% of the national vote...
caused 45% of votes (cast for below-threshold parties) to be unrepresented in the parliament.
In the Ukrainian
Ukraine
Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...
elections of March 2006, for which there was a 3% threshold, 22% of voters were effectively disenfranchised, having voted for minor candidates – and the representation of parties exceeding the threshold was increased to a level 22% higher than that corresponding to their share of the voters' support. One party, People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko
People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko
The People's Opposition Bloc of Natalia Vitrenko, was a political alliance in Ukraine led by Natalia Vitrenko.It consisted of*Progressive Socialist Party of Ukraine...
, received over 3% of the formal vote but failed to obtain 3% of the overall vote (which includes informal ballot papers, i.e. votes that are blank or incorrectly filled out). Likewise in 2007 the Socialist Party of Ukraine
Socialist Party of Ukraine
The Socialist Party of Ukraine is a Socialist political party in Ukraine and part of the Verkhovna Rada from 1994 to 2007.It is one of the oldest parties and was created by the former members of the Communist Party of Ukraine in late 1991 when the Communist Party was banned...
received only 2.86% of the national vote. Had they secured an additional 0.14% the overall results of the parliamentary election
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2007
Early parliamentary elections in Ukraine took place on 30 September 2007. The date of the election was determined following agreement between the President Viktor Yushchenko, the Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych and the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Oleksandr Moroz on 27 May 2007, in an attempt...
would have been more or less the same as the previous election
Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2006
The Ukrainian parliamentary election took place on March 26, 2006. Election campaigning officially began on July 7, 2005. Between November 26 and December 31, 2005 party lists of candidates were formed....
. However as fewer voters supported minor parties the total percentage of disenfranchised voters in 2007 was less than the previous election in 2006.
Election thresholds can produce a spoiler effect
Spoiler effect
The spoiler effect describes the effect a minor party candidate with little chance of winning has in a close election, when that candidate's presence in the election draws votes from a major candidate similar to them, thereby causing a candidate dissimilar to them to win the election...
, similar to that in the First-past-the-post voting system
Plurality voting system
The plurality voting system is a single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member constituencies...
, where minor parties unable to overcome thresholds take votes away from other parties with similar ideologies. Fledgling parties in these systems often find themselves in a vicious circle
Vicious Circle
Vicious Circle is an album released in 1994 by L.A. Guns. Most of the songs have Phil Lewis on lead vocals, but the track "Nothing Better to Do" features Kelly Nickels on lead vocals, and "Tarantula" is instrumental. MC Bones drums on several songs. Lewis and Bones also played together in the band...
– if a party is perceived as having no chance of meeting the threshold, it often cannot gain popular support, and if the party cannot gain popular support, it will continue to have little or no chance of meeting the threshold.
By comparison, elections involving a Preferential
Single transferable vote
The single transferable vote is a voting system designed to achieve proportional representation through preferential voting. Under STV, an elector's vote is initially allocated to his or her most preferred candidate, and then, after candidates have been either elected or eliminated, any surplus or...
voting system permit votes for candidates below the threshold to be redistributed according to the voter's indicated preference. This permits the continued participation in the election process of those whose votes would otherwise be "wasted" and minor vote candidates are able to indicate to their supporters before the vote how they would wish to see their votes transferred. Preferential voting is widely used in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
and Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
.