Editing Electoral threshold (section)

===Germany===
{{Main|Five percent hurdle}}
Germany's [[mixed-member proportional]] system has a threshold of 5 percent of party-list votes for full proportional representation in the [[Bundestag]] in federal elections. However, this is not a stringent barrier to entry: any party or independent who wins a constituency is entitled to that seat whether or not they have passed the threshold. Parties representing registered ethnic minorities have no threshold and receive proportional representation should they gain the mathematical minimum number of votes nationally to do so.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.dw.com/en/germany-passes-law-to-shrink-its-xxl-parliament/a-64471203|title=Germany passes law to shrink its XXL parliamen|publisher=[[Deutsche Welle]] }}</ref> The [[2021 German federal election|2021 election]] demonstrated the exception for ethnic minority parties: the [[South Schleswig Voters' Association]] entered the Bundestag with just 0.1 percent of the vote nationally as a registered party for Danish and Frisian minorities in [[Schleswig-Holstein]]. The 5% threshold also applies to all state elections; there is none for [[European Parliament]] elections.

German electoral law also includes the ''Grundmandatsklausel'' ('basic mandate clause'), which grants full proportional seating to parties winning at least three constituencies as if they had passed the electoral threshold, even if they did not. This rule is intended to benefit parties with regional appeal.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Kornmeier |first1=Claudia |title=Was das neue Wahlrecht vorsieht |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wahlrechtsreform-rechtliche-huerden-101.html |work=tagesschau.de |date=17 March 2023 |language=de |access-date=8 June 2023 |archive-date=8 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230608201645/https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wahlrechtsreform-rechtliche-huerden-101.html |url-status=live }}</ref> This clause has come into effect in two elections: [[1994 German federal election|in 1994]], when the [[Party of Democratic Socialism (Germany)|Party of Democratic Socialism]], which had significantly higher support in the former [[East Germany]], won 4.4 percent of party-list votes and four constituencies, and in 2021, when its successor, [[Die Linke]], won 4.9 percent and three constituencies. This clause was repealed by a 2023 law intended to reduce the size of the [[Bundestag]]. However, after complaints from Die Linke and the [[Christian Social Union in Bavaria|Christian Social Union]], the [[Federal Constitutional Court]] ruled a threshold with no exceptions was unconstitutional. The court provisionally reintroduced the basic mandate clause for the [[2025 German federal election|2025 federal election]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bräutigam |first=Kolja Schwartz, Frank |title=Bundesverfassungsgericht kippt das neue Wahlrecht in Teilen |url=https://www.tagesschau.de/inland/innenpolitik/wahlrechtsreform-bundesverfassungsgericht-104.html |access-date=2024-07-30 |website=tagesschau.de |language=de}}</ref>