Federal Election Act (Frankfurt National Assembly)

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Chamber of the Bundestag in Frankfurt

Federal election law is the collective name for two Bundestag resolutions of 1848, during the revolution in Germany . The resolutions of the Bundestag of March 30th and April 7th set guidelines for the election of the Frankfurt National Assembly . The election was organized by the individual states and took place in late April and early May.

According to the federal electoral law, all (male) Germans of legal age had the right to vote. The only explicitly mentioned restriction was “independence”. At that time different things could be understood by it, and accordingly different choices were made in the individual states. The guidelines are rather general and concise; For example, there is no decision for direct or indirect voting (by electors).

The texts of the two resolutions are kept in prose throughout and are rather short; after the first there was criticism from the pre-parliament . The pre-parliament itself only met on March 30th and discussed the general conditions of the election. The first resolution was corrected or supplemented accordingly in the second.

Discussion in the pre-parliament

The pre-parliament was a meeting of liberal and democratic politicians, some of whom were members of the parliaments of the individual states. The National Assembly helped to prepare, in some cases also with substantive recommendations for the future of Germany. The official representation of the German Confederation was the Bundestag, which represented the individual states. The Bundestag, in some cases already occupied by new, liberal envoys, made several resolutions at that time that were intended to alleviate the revolutionary unrest.

The only really controversial issue was whether the elections should be direct or indirect. The left called for direct elections because this expresses the will of the people in an unadulterated manner. The candidates would have to publicly advertise. In the case of indirect elections, the electors (who were elected by the actual, the primary voters) would ultimately decide, i.e. the local dignitaries. The left was countered that direct elections could easily be influenced by demagogues and that direct elections were more difficult to organize. A vote then recommended direct elections with 317 to 194 votes, but the decision was left to the individual states.

There was no vote on self-employment. According to the understanding of the time, this was associated with certain restrictions; in some countries, for example, it meant that journeymen or sons living in the parental home were not allowed to vote. In a summary of a committee report (and in the second federal decree) the expression appeared anyway because a stenographer had it in mind from the debate. The chairman did not notice this.

The pre-parliamentary requirement that Schleswig and the province of Prussia (East and West Prussia) should also be elected, although these areas did not belong to the German Confederation, was not mentioned in the federal electoral law . Only on April 11 and 22 did the Bundestag admit the province of Prussia and some of Posen into the federal territory.

content

According to the first resolution, the goal of the election was to accelerate the “drafting of the foundations of a new federal constitution”. Elected “national representatives” should meet “in order to bring about the German constitution between the governments and the people.” The second resolution contains the expression “constituent German national assembly”. The elections were to be held so quickly that the National Assembly could begin on May 1st. (In fact, their first meeting was on May 18th.)

The first resolution only said that the governments of the individual states should elect national representatives according to their constitutions. A state should have one MP elected for every 70,000 inhabitants; a state with fewer than 70,000 residents should have one MP. Only the second resolution went into more detail on the conditions for voting rights and eligibility. In addition, he reduced the number from 70,000 to 50,000; if there was a surplus of 25,000 inhabitants, a deputy should also be elected for this.

The active and passive right to vote should have every “ citizen ” (of the respective state) who was of legal age and was self-employed. This also applied to political refugees who had returned to Germany and “resumed their citizenship rights”. For eligibility it was not necessary that the candidate belonged to the respective individual state. There could be no restrictions according to religion, no electoral census and no “election according to certain classes”, i.e. no census suffrage and no class suffrage .

See also

source

  • No. 82 (No. 79). First Federal Decree on the Election of the German National Assembly of March 30, 1848 , p. 337, and No. 83 (No. 80). Second federal resolution on the election of the German National Assembly of April 7, 1848 . In: Ernst Rudolf Huber: Documents on German constitutional history. Volume 1: German constitutional documents 1803-1850. 3rd edition, W. Kohlhammer, Stuttgart a. a. 1978 (1961), p. 338.

Web links

supporting documents

  1. ^ Manfred Botzenhart: German Parliamentarism in the Revolutionary Period 1848–1850. Droste, Düsseldorf 1977, pp. 123/124.
  2. ^ Manfred Botzenhart: German Parliamentarism in the Revolutionary Period 1848–1850. Droste, Düsseldorf 1977, p. 124.
  3. ^ Manfred Botzenhart: German Parliamentarism in the Revolutionary Period 1848–1850. Droste, Düsseldorf 1977, p. 125.