Home > 3.2 Proportional systems > SERBIA - Joint Recommendations on the Laws on Parliamentary, Presidential and Local Elections and Electoral Administration
 
 
 
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Paragraph 40
 
40.  The above recommendation would constitute a change in the method of allocation used by the REC in past elections, where the REC has determined that the threshold is calculated on the number of signatures on the extract of the voter register in each polling station. This allows for all votes, including invalid ones, and voters who received a ballot but did not cast it, to influence the allocation of seats. As a result, such a provision also effectively raises the 5 per cent threshold in proportion to the number of invalid ballots cast. Theoretically, a party may receive over 5 per cent of valid votes cast but may fall short of this threshold if all signatures on the extracts are used as a basis for calculating the threshold. In this case, citizens who did not express a clear political preference would directly influence the composition of the new parliament. Thus, the 5 per cent threshold for gaining parliamentary representation should be calculated on the basis of valid votes cast, not based on the number of signatures on the voter lists.