However, the former general recommendation of PACE to decrease legal thresholds that are higher than 3% needs further discussion. In Europe, thresholds of 5% are most common. Furthermore, the effects of the threshold depend not only on the percentage, but also on the level and stage of application. Moreover, in PR systems with small and medium-sized constituencies the “natural” thresholds are much higher than 3% at the constituency level. Open to discussion is also whether legal thresholds should differentiate between parties and electoral alliances, such as in Armenia, the Czech Republic, Italy, Republic of Moldova, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia. In Turkey, a recent amendment allows parties to form alliances to pass the 10% electoral threshold. Now, political parties within an alliance can win seats in parliament even if they fall below the 10%. In any case, it seems to be appropriate that legal thresholds are calculated on the basis of the valid votes cast (and not of the total votes cast).