Thresholds are “fixed or variable limits, established using the election result, which determine whether a given list or a given candidate takes part in the distribution of seats”. They are insome way the equivalent of the thresholds used in the first round election in the majority system.This restriction on access to distribution generally applies to the award of seats in basic constituencies, but it may also be applied solely to groups of constituencies or to the distribution of remainders. For example, in Austria, only those lists obtaining the simple quota in the basic constituencies are admitted to the distribution of seats at the level of groups of constituencies. In Greece, there are three rounds of distribution of seats. During the first two rounds the seats aredistributed between all parties according to the votes they have acquired, excluding those parties,which have not reached the threshold of the 3% of the votes. In the third round the remainingseats are usually allocated to the party having acquired the majority of the votes. In any case it has to be made certain that the representation of all parties is equal to at least 70% of their proportional share of votes.