MPs approve electoral law changes on seat allocation, coalition thresholds

MPs on Wednesday approved a new method for allocating seats to parties in proportion to the votes they receive in elections, and lowering thresholds for that coalitions must achieve to enter the lower house of Parliament.

The Senate will now consider the amendment to the electoral law, which came following a Constitutional Court ruling two months ago that aspects of current legislation unfairly favour bigger political parties.

Until now, a coalition of two entities would need to win 10 percent of the total vote to win a mandate, three entities would need 15 percent, and so on. Judges found that violates the equal suffrage principle by penalising like-minded political groupings from joining forces.

If the amendment is signed into law, two-member coalitions would now have to receive only 8 percent of the vote and larger coalitions 11 percent of the vote.