There are very few exceptions to the obligation to make a mandatory offer when the 30 per cent threshold is reached.

Market purchases will simply make the 75 per cent threshold more difficult to achieve.

No other parties succeeded in reaching the 5 per cent threshold required to win representation.

Although the Greens increased their share of the vote from 2.9 to 4.9 per cent, this left them just below the 5 per cent threshold required for representation.

Their 3.9 per cent of the vote fell short of the 5 per cent threshold entitling them to representation in parliament.

Its decline started in the 1996 general election, when it gained 2.94 per cent, just below the 3 per cent threshold necessary to enter parliament.

The aim is to cross the 75 per cent threshold by 2020.

Despite a hard fought campaign by pro-unionists, pro-independence forces narrowly won the referendum with just over the 55 per cent threshold demanded by the European Union.

Turnout was low with only 46.08 per cent of registered voters casting ballots, but well above the 25 per cent threshold required to make the vote valid.

The Additional Member System is used in Germany, with a five per cent threshold intended to exclude tiny, extreme parties.