The Legal Barrier in the Elections to the Spanish Lower House (“Congreso de los Diputados”) and its Possible Reform

Abstract

This paper analyzes the «electoral barrier» or «exclusion clause» established by law for the elections to the Lower House (three percent of the valid votes cast in the constituency). After studying the real scope and effectiveness of this barrier, as well as the consequences of considering «blank votes» as «valid votes», we wonder about the reasons that justified (during the Political Transition) and (currently) still justify the application of an «almost» inefficient electoral barrier. Finally, we analyze the three reform proposals for this clause (so that it is no longer ornamental and becomes discriminatory): first, to raise the barrier from three to five percent of the valid votes cast in the constituency; second, to maintain the barrier at three percent, but by counting votes cast throughout the State; and third, the combination of the two previous measures, that is, to set the barrier at five percent of the valid votes cast throughout the State (although with specific clauses for political parties that limit their performance to a specific autonomous region).