election threshold
- noun
- Specialized
:
umbral electoral
- Candidates are often motivated to raise funds and mobilize support to meet the election threshold required for representation.
Examples
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Especially the Kurds living in the western regions of the country supported Demirta, regardless of the 10 percent election threshold restriction.
Academic text (2017) -
The HDP's campaign can be said to have been a success since the party passed the 10 percent election threshold in the general elections held in June 2015 and November 2015.
Academic text (2017) -
The party was relieved to exceed the election threshold and secure seats in the legislature.
-
Without surpassing the election threshold, smaller parties risk being excluded from the electoral process.
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'minimum percentage of votes needed to gain representation' is directly and compositionally built from 'election' (voting process) + 'threshold' (a point/level marking the start), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer the MWE meaning. This is a transparent, cross-linguistically common political concept (though somewhat technical), not an idiom or metaphor requiring prior exposure.
Etymology
The term election threshold paints the picture of a door threshold you must step over to enter a room. In elections, that 'threshold' is a minimum share of votes a party must pass to 'gain seats' in parliament, so parties that do not cross it stay out.
