Turgankulov does not rule out necessity of lowering election threshold

Chairman of Kazakhstan Central Election Commission Kuandyk Turgankulov does not rule out the necessity to lower the election threshold for parties to obtain parliament seats, Tengrinews.kz reports. "It is agreeable, in principle. Three or five percent would not be a subject of bargaining. We just need to study the world practice. Right now we know that only 5-6 countries have the barrier of 7 percent. Some countries have 10 percent. Some have 2, 3 and 5 percent. That's why we have to study international practice and, perhaps, make some kind of a suggestion to the government and the parliament,” Turgankulov said answering the request of Senator Kassymov who earlier suggested to lower the threshold from 7 percent to 3 percent. Head of the CEC explained that the Central Election Commission was not elilgible to initiate any amendments. This was a prerogative of the government and the parliament, Turgankulov said. In party-list proportional representation systems, an election threshold is a clause that stipulates that a party must receive a minimum percentage of votes to obtain any seats in the parliament. The effect of the threshold is to deny small parties the right of representation or force them into coalitions, with the presumption of rendering the election system more stable by keeping out radical factions.