AUSTRIAN ELECTORAL SYSTEM. 



47 



transactions and speculations, that debase the 

 right of suffrage to an article of traffic, which 

 turns most frequently to the advantage of the 

 Germans and the Jews, who are the largest 

 owners of personal property. This land group, 

 which, according to its nature, should repre- 

 sent the landed and noble aristocracy, has 

 been democratized in another respect. If the 

 electoral census is differential, if it is scaled by 

 kingdoms and states, it is subject, on the con- 

 trary, to a leveling equalization in the interior 

 of the same circumscription. Whether they 

 pay the minimum tax, varying from two hun- 

 dred and fifty to fifty florins, or an enormous 

 tax like Prince Adolph Schwarzenberg, whose 

 assessment is one million florins, yet all the 

 great proprietors are placed on the same level. 

 They have only a single vote, and are especially 

 included in a single electoral college, excepting, 

 however, Dalmatia, which has four, and Ga- 

 licia six, colleges. Thus, as a striking illustra- 

 tion, the proprietors of Bohemia assemble on 

 an appointed day at Prague, and elect the 

 twenty-three deputies to the nominating con- 

 vention. Now, as the two parties are very 

 nearly equal in strength, the influence of the 

 Government is almost always sufficient to give 

 the majority to the Germans, and to exclude 

 the Slavs from all representation. Thus, the 

 influence of the rich old families of Bohemia 

 and Moravia, who are the owners of thirty 

 villages, is absolutely paralyzed by the com- 

 paratively small proprietors, who are Germans 

 and Israelites, and who bought, only a short 

 time before the election, the land which car- 

 ried the right to vote. An unsuccessful at- 

 tempt has been made to divide the landed group 

 of Bohemia into three electoral colleges. Be- 

 sides the exceptions of Dalmatia and Galicia 

 from the rule of one electoral body, another 

 exists in Bukowina, which has three represent- 

 atives. The greater part of the proprietary 

 electors are Roumanians, and one electoral 

 body gives them a decided superiority. To 

 prevent this unfavorable result to the Germans, 

 the group has been divided into two bodies or 

 curia, of which one is composed of ecclesias- 

 tical dignitaries of the Greek rite, and the prior 

 of a monastery, comprising in all seven elect- 

 ors, who generally elect the governor of the 

 province for deputy. 



The ecclesiastical curia of Bukowina is not 

 the only exceptional feature of that electoral 

 district ; for the voter can be represented by 

 proxy. Then, women of twenty-four years of 

 age, and legally independent, have the right to 

 vote. They vote according to the local law, gen- 

 erally by their husbands, or, if they are daugh- 

 ters or widows, by proxy. The right to vote is 

 also given to corporations and societies whose 

 landed interests have elevated them to the class 

 of great proprietors, especially to funded insti- 

 tutions, to schools, churches, and hospitals, 

 whenever there exist express provisions in the 

 provincial law. The right is for them exer- 

 cised by a person designated in the charter of 



the institution, or by a special delegate. The 

 elector can, at the same time, vote for himself 

 and as a mandataire. The same proprietor can 

 hold the right of suffrage in different districts, 

 and it is this fact which has secured the vote 

 by proxy. 



The second and third groups embrace those 

 engaged in commerce, industrial pursuits, and 

 the liberal professions. These are the ancient 

 citizens. The two groups have one hundred 

 and thirty-six mandats, which is four more 

 than the rural communes, which have one 

 hundred and thirty -two. Nevertheless, the 

 population of the open country is much more 

 numerous than that of the cities. According 

 to the census of 1869, Cisleithan Austria had 

 8,000,000 inhabitants devoted to agriculture, 

 and only 2,500,000 engaged in commerce and 

 industrial pursuits. In the Slav provinces the 

 disproportion is still greater. But this is not 

 the only disadvantage which the rural popu- 

 lation suffers; for, while the other groups 

 vote directly, the country electors choose from 

 among themselves certain persons, who in their 

 turn make a choice of the deputies. At the 

 primary election, five hundred inhabitants 

 choose one. It is still a mandat, which in 

 some respects resembles the mandat of the great 

 proprietor; but, while the latter is free and 

 personal, the first is forced and collected. 

 Such is the rule. But, in order to complete 

 the complication, aside from the " indirect " 

 electors, there are in the rural communes " di- 

 rect " electors, who are relieved from the pri- 

 mary vote, and who consist of owners of landed 

 estates, but who do not pay a sufficient tax to 

 place them among the great proprietors. 



Whence comes this shocking inequality ? It 

 can be explained only from the fact that the 

 electoral law is the work of the German party, 

 which has favored the cities, where the popula- 

 tion is principally German and liberal, to the 

 detriment of the open -country people, and 

 especially the conservative and Slav element. 

 Such is the case also with the chambers of 

 commerce, nearly all of which are in the hands 

 of a growing liberal majority. 



The great proprietors, the citizens, and the 

 peasants are the exclusive possessors, although 

 unequally, of the political influence of Austria. 

 To this fundamental division of the electoral 

 body there is added another of great weight 

 likewise, and which equally tends to secure 

 the pre-eminence of the German population. 

 It is the division of mandats among the numer- 

 ous nationalities adjacent to each other or con- 

 founded together in the empire. This division 

 is in no sense proportional, nor is it made ac- 

 cording to the number of the population, or the 

 amount of taxes. Austria is estimated to con- 

 tain 13,000,000 Slavs, 500,000 Italians, 200,- 

 000 Roumans, 600,000 Israelites, and 7,000,000 

 Germans. If universal suffrage existed, or if 

 the election were made on an equalized basis, 

 the majority would undoubtedly be steadily on 

 the side of the Slavs. It is far from being so 



