There is no European standard on electoral thresholds. Electoral thresholds are used as a mechanism to balance fair representation of views in the Parliament with effectiveness in the Parliament and capacity to form stable governments. How this balance is struck and how thresholds are used to this aim differs between countries and electoral systems. Within the member states of the Council of Europe, thresholds vary from no threshold to Turkey’s 10% threshold, though few European states have national thresholds higher than 5%.20 The European Court of Human Rights has in its case law allowed the states a wide margin of appreciation in this matter in relation to Protocol 1 Article 3 of the ECHR,21 and the Venice Commission has not criticised thresholds as such.22
20 See CDL-AD(2010)007, Report on Thresholds and Other Features of Electoral Systems Which Bar Parties from Access to Parliament, par. 20-23.
21 See a summary in Strack and Richter v. Germany (dec.), 5 July 2016, nos. 28811/12 and 50303/12, par. 33.
22 See Report on Thresholds and Other Features of Electoral Systems Which Bar Parties from Access to Parliament, par. 32. See also in recent opinions, CDL-AD(2017)013, Georgia, Opinion on the Draft Revised Constitution, par. 28; CDL-AD(2018)008, Republic of Moldova Joint Opinion on the Draft Laws on Amending and Completing Certain Legislative Acts, par. 25.
