The Institute of Political Studies (ISP), in collaboration with the Conrad Adenauer Foundation published today a prognosis of the number of votes that are necessary to win a mandate as deputy in the next Parliament. The study is based on the results of the 2013 elections.
Excerpts from the report:
The minimum threshold of 3% that parties need to meet in every county varies between 1,404 votes in Kukës to 13,542 votes in Tirana. Passing the threshold does not mean winning a mandate. Only in Tirana is passing the threshold a guarantee for winning a seat. In other counties up to 6 times the number of votes is necessary.
The number of votes needed for a mandate remains the highest in Tirana, followed by Dibra and Durrës and then Fier and Berat.
The minimum level of mandates (the 3% threshold only means something in Tirana), is the main challenge for the small political parties, especially PDIU, LIBRA, SFIDA, PSD, APD, FRD, PKD, etc. This even holds for the LSI in at least 4 of the 12 counties.
The parties that receive a lot of votes, even though they do not pass the threshold or don’t manage to gather the number of votes for a mandate are punished twice – they don’t win a mandate because of the voting system and their votes are de facto translated into mandates of the large political parties, especially the Socialist Party and Democratic Party.
