Galician Diet

The "Spring of Peoples", which swept through the Austrian Empire in 1848-1849, caused the creation of new constitutions for the peoples living on the territory of the monarchy. The constitutions contained articles on the convening of provincial sejm on the basis of suffrage, but the imperial patent of December 31, 1851 suspended the constitution.

The defeat of Austria in the war with Piedmont and France in 1859 , as a result of which the majority of possessions in northern Italy were lost, shook the authority of the monarch Franz Joseph I both within the empire and beyond. To appease the opposition and national movements within the state, Emperor Franz Josef I announced on October 20, 1860, with the diploma of the restoration of the constitution, the convening of a national parliament and provincial Diet. In the non-Hungarian parts of the empire, 17 lands received rights to their own sejm. Among the Ukrainian territories, besides Galicia, the Duchy of Bukovina received its own diet. On February 26, 1861, the emperor approved a new draft constitution (known as the “February patent”, which provided the Sejm with even broader powers than the previous draft. The legal basis for the functioning of the Galician Sejm was regulated by the appendix to the February patent No. II, part “o.” ^[1]

The election procedure was determined by the “Sejm Election Ordination”, which was attached to the February patent. Section I - “On constituencies and places of choice” - defined constituencies. Section II - “On the Right of Choice and Election” - determined the property qualification. It was forbidden to participate in elections outside their curia . The age limit is 24 years old, and you could become a candidate after 30 years. The voting rights of the persons who committed the crime, who were under investigation, bankrupt were lost. The elections were appointed by governorship. First there were elections in the 4th, then 2nd, 3rd, at the end of the 1st curia. Voter lists were constituencies; each voter was to receive an invitation indicating the time and place of the election. To win, a candidate must gain an absolute majority of votes. The election commission selected from among its members a senior who was obliged to quote articles of ordination by heart to voters about the rights and obligations of voters, to call them to vote according to conscience and belief.

For voters of Curia I, at least 100 gold guilders of the tax on tabular estates. Voters from the first curia had the privilege of voting through a proxy. The election commission consisted of 3 election commissioners and 2 appointed by the administration.

In the city (3rd) curia, the first 2/3 of the list of taxpayers took part in the elections; as in Curia I, the elections were direct. The election commission consisted of the burgomaster or his deputy, 2 members of the city council, 4 people appointed by the government commissioner. 2 intended by the administration.

In the rural (4th) curia, the elections were 2-degree, the right to vote the first 2/3 of the list of taxpayers. Rural communities initially selected voters at the rate of 1 voter per 500 delegates before voting; if there were more, it was allowed to choose another 1 voter, provided that there were more than 250 authorized voters; fewer communities chose 1 person. The election commission consisted of 4 persons authorized for elections, 3 appointed by the government commissioner.

• Kulchitsky V.S. Galitsky diet in the system of the colonial apparatus of Austria-Hungary. - M., 1953.
• Arkusha O. Ukranian Representative Office in the Galicia Diet (1889-1901). - Lviv, 1997.
• Arkusha, O. G., Galician Regional Sejm // Encyclopedia of History of Ukraine. - T. 2. - K., 2005. - P. 31—32.
• Chornovol I. 199 deputies of the Galician Sejm. - Lviv: Trіada Plus, 2010 .-- 228 p. ISBN 978-966-486-089-2

• Diet, provincial (kraiovyi soim) . Entry in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).