Editing Electoral threshold (section)

==Electoral thresholds in various countries==
[[File:Election thresholds map.svg|thumb|300px|World map showing electoral threshold percentages of [[lower house]]s. Some countries may have more rules for coalitions and independents and for winning a specific number of district seats.

{{legend|Red|<1}}
{{legend|Orange|1–1.{{overbar|9}}}}
{{legend|Yellow|2–2.{{overbar|9}}}}
{{legend|Green|3–3.{{overbar|9}}}}
{{legend|Blue|4–4.{{overbar|9}}}}
{{legend|Navy|5–5.{{overbar|9}}}}
{{legend|Purple|6–6.{{overbar|9}}}}
{{legend|Magenta|7+}}]]

In Poland's [[Sejm]], Lithuania's [[Seimas]], Germany's [[Bundestag]], Kazakhstan's [[Mäjilis]] and New Zealand's [[New Zealand House of Representatives|House of Representatives]], the threshold is 5 percent (in Poland, additionally 8 percent for a coalition of two or more parties submitting a joint [[electoral list]] and in Lithuania, additionally 7 percent for coalition). However, in Germany and New Zealand, if a party wins a directly elected seat, the threshold does not apply.

Israel's [[Knesset]] uses a threshold of 3.25 percent. (It was 1% before 1992, 1.5% from 1992 to 2003, and 2% from 2003 to 2014.) The [[Grand National Assembly of Turkey|Turkish parliament]] uses an electoral threshold of 7 percent. In Poland, ethnic minority parties do not have to reach a threshold to get into the parliament, so there is often a small German minority representation in the Sejm. In Romania, a different threshold is used for ethnic minority parties than for national parties that run for the [[Chamber of Deputies of Romania|Chamber of Deputies]].

Several countries{{snd}}including Finland, Namibia,<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.electionpassport.com/electoral-systems/namibia/ | title=Namibia &#124; Election Passport }}</ref> North Macedonia, Portugal and South Africa{{snd}}use proportional representation systems that have no legally set electoral threshold. 

===Australia===
The [[Australian Senate|Senate of Australia]] is elected using single transferable vote (STV) and does not use an electoral threshold or have a predictable "natural" or "hidden" threshold. The quota ensures the election of candidates, but it is also possible to be elected with less than quota at the end of the count. At a normal election, each state returns six senators and the [[Australian Capital Territory]] and the [[Northern Territory]] each return two. (For the states, the number is doubled in a [[double dissolution]] election.) As such, the quota for election (as determined through the Droop quota) is 14.3 percent or 33.3 percent respectively. (For the states, the quota for election is halved in a double dissolution election.) However, as STV allows votes to be transferred even across party lines, candidates who receive less than the quota for election in the first round of counting may reach the Droop quota and be certain of election, or at least have enough to be elected with less than the quota. Therefore, the sixth (or, at a [[double dissolution]] election, the 12th) Senate seat in each state is often won by a candidate of a party who received considerably less than the Droop quota in primary votes. For example, at the [[2022 Australian federal election|2022 election]], the sixth Senate seat in [[Victoria (state)|Victoria]] was won by the [[United Australia Party (2013)|United Australia Party]] even though it won only 4 percent of the primary vote in that state. The successful UAP candidate, Ralph Babet, had personally accumulated a vote tally equivalent to 12 percent of the votes cast by the end, which due to 7 percent being exhausted, meant he was the most popular when only he and one other candidate were still in the running.<ref>"2022 Victorian Senate election" https://antonygreen.com.au/2022-victorian-senate-election/ accessed April 18, 2025</ref>

===Germany===
{{Main|Five percent hurdle}}
Germany's [[mixed-member proportional]] system has a threshold of 5 percent of party-list votes for full proportional representation in the [[Bundestag]] in federal elections. However, this is not a stringent barrier to entry: any party or independent who wins a constituency is entitled to that seat whether or not they have passed the threshold. Parties representing registered ethnic minorities have no threshold and receive proportional representation should they gain the mathematical minimum number of votes nationally to do so.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-passes-law-to-shrink-its-xxl-parliament/a-64471203|title=Germany passes law to shrink its XXL parliamen|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] }}</ref> The [[2021 German federal election|2021 election]] demonstrated the exception for ethnic minority parties: the [[South Schleswig Voters' Association]] entered the Bundestag with just 0.1 percent of the vote nationally as a registered party for Danish and Frisian minorities in [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. The 5% threshold also applies to all state elections; there is none for [[European Parliament]] elections.

German electoral law also includes the ''Grundmandatsklausel'' ('basic mandate clause'), which grants full proportional seating to parties winning at least three constituencies as if they had passed the electoral threshold, even if they did not. This rule is intended to benefit parties with regional appeal.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kornmeier |first1=Claudia |title=Was das neue Wahlrecht vorsieht |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wahlrechtsreform-rechtliche-huerden-101.html |work=tagesschau.de |date=17 March 2023 |language=de |access-date=8 June 2023 |archive-date=8 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608201645/https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wahlrechtsreform-rechtliche-huerden-101.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This clause has come into effect in two elections: [[1994 German federal election|in 1994]], when the [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]], which had significantly higher support in the former [[East Germany]], won 4.4 percent of party-list votes and four constituencies, and in 2021, when its successor, [[Die Linke]], won 4.9 percent and three constituencies. This clause was repealed by a 2023 law intended to reduce the size of the [[Bundestag]]. However, after complaints from Die Linke and the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria|Christian Social Union]], the [[Federal Constitutional Court]] ruled a threshold with no exceptions was unconstitutional. The court provisionally reintroduced the basic mandate clause for the [[2025 German federal election|2025 federal election]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bräutigam |first=Kolja Schwartz, Frank |title=Bundesverfassungsgericht kippt das neue Wahlrecht in Teilen |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wahlrechtsreform-bundesverfassungsgericht-104.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=tagesschau.de |language=de}}</ref>

===Norway===
In Norway, the nationwide electoral threshold of 4 percent 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. For example, the 2021 election saw the [[Green Party (Norway)|Green Party]] and [[Christian Democratic Party (Norway)|Christian Democratic Party]] each win three district seats, and [[Patient Focus (Norway)|Patient Focus]] winning one district seat despite missing the threshold.

===Slovenia===
In Slovenia, the threshold was set at 3 parliamentary seats during parliamentary elections in 1992 and 1996. This meant that the parties needed to win about 3.2 percent of the votes in order to pass the threshold. In 2000, the threshold was raised to 4 percent of the votes.

===Sweden===
In Sweden, there is a nationwide threshold of 4 percent for the [[Riksdag]], but if a party reaches 12 percent in any electoral constituency, it will take part in the seat allocation for that constituency.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |date=29 March 2021 |title=Distribution of seats |url=https://val.se/servicelankar/servicelankar/other-languages/english-engelska/electoral-system/distribution-of-seats.html |access-date=2024-07-17 |website=Valmyndigheten |language=en}}</ref> As of the 2022 election, nobody has been elected based on the 12 percent rule.

===United States===
{{see also|Ballot access}}

In the United States, as the majority of elections are conducted under the [[First-past-the-post voting|first-past-the-post system]], legal electoral thresholds do not apply. It is possible to be elected with less than half the votes in a district. 

However, several states have threshold requirements for parties to obtain automatic [[Ballot access#State ballot access laws|ballot access]] to the next general election without having to submit voter-signed petitions. The threshold requirements have no practical bearing on the two main political parties (the [[Republican Party (United States)|Republican]] and [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] parties) as they easily meet the requirements, but have come into play for the [[Green Party of the United States|Green]], [[Libertarian Party (United States)|Libertarian]] and other minor parties. The threshold rules also restrict independent candidates' access to the ballot.