Electoral Threshold

Explanation

An electoral threshold is the minimum share of the vote a party must receive to qualify for seats in parliament under proportional representation. Thresholds prevent extreme fragmentation by excluding very small parties. Germany has a 5% threshold; Turkey has 7%; Israel has 3.25%; the Netherlands has an effectively negligible threshold (0.67%). Higher thresholds lead to fewer parties in parliament but can leave significant numbers of voters unrepresented. Lowering thresholds increases representativeness but can lead to highly fragmented parliaments where coalition formation becomes difficult. The threshold level is one of the most consequential design choices in electoral system engineering.