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The Influence of Austrian Voting Right of 1907 on the First Electoral Law of the Successor States (Poland, Romania [Bukovina], Czechoslovakia)

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The Influence of Austrian Voting Right of 1907 on the First Electoral Law of the Successor States (Poland, Romania [Bukovina], Czechoslovakia) ISSN 2411-9563 (Print) European Journal of Social Sciences May-August 2014 ISSN 2312-8429 (Online) Education and Research Volume 1, Issue 1 The influence of Austrian voting right of 1907 on the first electoral law of the successor states (Poland, Romania [Bukovina], Czechoslovakia) Dr Andrzej Dubicki Uniwersytet Łódzki Abstract As a result of collapse of the Central Powers in 1918 in Central Europe have emerged new national states e.g. Poland, Czechoslowakia, Hungaria, SHS Kingdom some of states that have existed before the Great War have changed their boundaries e.g. Romania, Bulgaria. But what is most important newly created states have a need to create their constituencies, so they needed a electoral law. There is a question in what manner they have used the solutions that have been used before the war in the elections held to the respective Parliaments (mostly to the Austrian or Hungarian parliament) and in case of Poland to the Tzarist Duma or Prussian and German Parliament. In the paper author will try to compare Electoral Laws that were used in Poland Czechoslowakia, and Romania [Bukowina]. The first object will be connected with the question in what matter the Austrian electoral law have inspired the solutions used in respective countries after the Great War. The second object will be connected with showing similarities between electoral law used in so called opening elections held mainly in 1919 in Austria-Hungary successor states. The third and final question will be connected with development of the electoral rules in respective countries and with explaining the reasons for such changes and its influence on the party system in respective country: multiparty in Czechoslovakia, hybrid in Romania. Keywords: Poland, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Electoral law, politics. In the countries that emerged in 1918 after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, also known as the successor states, all political principles had to be built from scratch. On the one hand, it was a unique opportunity to try new political solutions. On the other hand, using commonly known rules might be considered useful in stabilizing the country, since the elections, one of the key elements of democracy, could be held according to widely accepted principles that were attributed to the former political system, which helped to raise the trust of the new country’s citizens. The article aims to trace the main regulations of Austrian electoral law of Imperial Council in 1907 and find their influence on first electoral law in the successor states (Romania [Bukovina], Czechoslovakia) and Poland. The starting point of the research is the Austrian law governing the elections to Imperial Council in its final version of 1907, when in the effect of the so-called Beck’s electoral reform, general and equal voting right was introduced in Austria. The tradition of general elections in the Austrian Empire itself was formed in 1896 (due to Badeni reform), when to the previously existing four classes of voters, formed on the financial possibilities, a fifth class was added, with every citizen with voting right being able to make his choice. Apart from the issue of generality, the reform in question introduced the idea of unequal voting and plural voting. It was possible due to granting voting right to the members of the fifth class, and also those who were allowed to vote in classes I-IV, which made it possible for them to vote twice (Starzyński, 1907, p. 75). It should be mentioned that in the end of the 19th century Austrian electoral law was not extraordinary. Plural voting existed in other countries, in Belgium on the country level and in Sweden - on the local level.1. New electoral law, introduced in the Austrian Empire in 1907, meant serious changes in the basic rules of voting, since it replaced the former rule of political representation typical of class voting with the principle of citizen representation. The additional aim of the new law was to reconcile different nations of the Austro-Hungarian Empire by granting mandates to particular nations living in precise electoral districts. It was clearly visible in the region of Moravia, where it was possible to set electoral districts in such a way that mandates would be given to particular peoples (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 289), thanks to the 1905 national cadastre. 1 It should be mentioned that in the end of the 19th century Austrian electoral law was not extraordinary. Plural voting existed in other countries, in Belgium on the country level and in Sweden - on the local level. 56 ISSN 2411-9563 (Print) European Journal of Social Sciences May-August 2014 ISSN 2312-8429 (Online) Education and Research Volume 1, Issue 1 It is worth mentioning that the idea of introducing similar changes in other parts of the Empire, Galicia included, were facing strong opposition of the local politicians, especially in regions inhabited by mixed nationalities. In other parts of Austria of the time, similar division was meant to be introduced in a more subtle way (Buszko, 1956, p. 30-31), but with a superior idea of a balance between Slavic and Germanic-Romanic element (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 290). An element meant to regulate political life in Austria was introducing a partial reform of the House of Lords (Higher House of the Parliament). It involved setting a definite maximal number of its members appointed by the Emperor to 150-170, which disabled halting virtually every new statute drawn by the Lower House of the Parliament by appointing numerous members. The outcome was dubious, since it also made it difficult to have a majority in voting a new project over. The second element of the reform was to allow hereditary peers of the House of Lords to run in the elections to the House of Representatives, on condition that their membership would be suspended while belonging to Imperial Council. An important novum introduced by electoral law of 1907 was the possibility of direct vote for all the voters. Such opportunity had been possible earlier only in classes I-III, in lower classes it was only one of many options. It used to be a common situation in Europe, for instance in Romania, so Austria was not archaic in that sense. A curious fact in Austria was that passive voting right was slightly broader than active. in this particular case there did not exist domicile status, which was obligatory in case of active voting right and set to last one year, the obligation of one year permanent residence in a certain electoral district was a result of a compromise. The Left wanted to remove this entry from electoral law as designed against workers who used to migrate in search of work, whereas Christian Democracy postulated obligatory residence of 3 to 5 years, which was to support the settled (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 293). Another novum put forward by Beck’s law was an introduction of single- member districts, with the possibility of existence of double-member districts in the areas ethnically non-homogenous, where the second mandate was meant for a person belonging to an ethnic minority group. It was practiced only in Galicia (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 434)1, where in the areas dominated by the Ukrainians, it was used to help Polish representatives in being granted a mandate (J. Buszko, 1956, p. 78). This new law secured the interests of the ethnic minority groups, by granting the representative of such group the opportunity to enter Imperial Court on condition that he was supported by at least 25% of the voters of his electoral district. It was a novelty in Austrian solutions. It should be mentioned that this way of choosing a minority MP was faced with considerable restrictions. One of them was the necessity to acquire at least 50% of votes by the representative of the majority, and in case of not gaining such number of votes by a candidate from a district in question, the voting procedure had to be repeated, no matter whether the threshold of 25% had been passed or not (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 299). The voting was based on the principle of a single non-transferable vote (SNTV), used then in Brasil on provincial and municipal levels (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 300). The procedure of granting seats in the Parliament itself was obviously based on the plurality voting system, with the use of ballot which took place one week after the first voting. Only two candidates who acquired the majority of votes in the first voting ran in it. As previously mentioned, it took place almost everywhere in Austria, except 36 country districts. The rules in those districts were more complicated, and in extreme cases as many as 4 dates of voting were needed to choose two MPs, but this could only happen when the majority candidate was the only person who got votes, which was hardly possible. Nevertheless, using the voting procedure in question with proper division of rights and high political awareness of the majority of voters, it was possible to choose two majority candidates in one electoral district. There was no solution to such behaviour of the majority, despite the existence of other aspects of voting, especially its sectreteness (Starzyński, 1907a, p. 443)2. Due to the introduction of the minority MP, the institution of substitute MP was also introduced. He was appointed when the elected MP was not able to fulfil his duties. Every MP had his substitute MP appointed3. in case of majority voting, additional 1 70 electoral districts were established there: 34 single-member town districts and 36 double-member country districts. 2 in Moravia there was such a possibility, but it involved signing the voting papers.
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