FLASH
Shkruar nga Eduard Zaloshnja
In Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, etc., the electoral threshold is 5% at the national level; an electoral entity that does not reach this threshold cannot enter parliament.
Whenever electoral reform is discussed in Albania, many voices defend the thesis of changing the electoral system from regional proportional to national proportional, arguing that many votes of small parties are "burned" in the current system, without being able to produce parliamentary mandates.
But those who defend this thesis forget that in all countries where the national proportional system is applied, an electoral threshold is set to enter parliament. This is for reasons of stability in government. Israel had the lowest threshold in the democratic world until 1988 (1%), but has significantly increased it (3.25% currently), to avoid instability in government.
In Germany, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, etc., the electoral threshold is 5% at the national level, an electoral entity that does not reach this threshold cannot enter parliament. Even in neighboring Kosovo, the threshold is 5%, but only for Albanian entities (not for small ones of national minorities).
If the 5% threshold were applied in the May 11, 2025 elections in Albania, none of the small electoral entities would be able to enter the Assembly. And if the distribution of parliamentary mandates were made according to the national proportional system, the SP would receive 87 mandates and the PD-ASHM 53 mandates.
In Austria, Sweden, Norway, etc., the electoral threshold is 4% nationally.
If the 4% threshold were applied in the May 11, 2025 elections in Albania, only 1 out of 9 small electoral entities would manage to enter the Assembly. And if the distribution of parliamentary mandates were made according to the national proportional system, the SP would receive 83 mandates, the PD-ASHM 51 mandates, and the Coalition “Nisma Shqipëria Bëhet” 6 mandates.
So these last two entities would increase their weight in parliamentary representation at the expense of the 8 parties remaining outside the Assembly, compared to the current electoral system. And the 157 thousand votes of these 8 parties would be considered as "burnt" votes in vain (according to the jargon of public discussions).
We would have the same distribution with the results of May 2025, even if the 3.25% electoral threshold (which Israel currently has) were applied.
By lowering the threshold below 3%, it is understood that the probability of smaller parties entering parliament increases, but in various democratic countries, additional electoral mechanisms are applied in favor of large parties. This is precisely to ensure stability in governance.
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