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The House of Deputies (german: Abgeordnetenhaus, cs, Poslanecká sněmovna, pl, Izba Posłów, it, Camera dei deputati) was, from 1861, the
lower house A lower house is one of two Debate chamber, chambers of a Bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the upper house. Despite its official position "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has co ...
of the bicameral Imperial Council parliament of the
Austrian Empire The Austrian Empire (german: link=no, Kaiserthum Oesterreich, modern spelling , ) was a Central- Eastern European multinational great power from 1804 to 1867, created by proclamation out of the realms of the Habsburgs. During its existence, ...
and, from 1867 to 1918, of the
Cisleithania Cisleithania, also ''Zisleithanien'' sl, Cislajtanija hu, Ciszlajtánia cs, Předlitavsko sk, Predlitavsko pl, Przedlitawia sh-Cyrl-Latn, Цислајтанија, Cislajtanija ro, Cisleithania uk, Цислейтанія, Tsysleitaniia it, Cislei ...
n lands within
Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...
. The upper chamber was the
House of Lords The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by appointment, heredity or official function. Like the House of Commons, it meets in the Palace of Westminst ...
.


History

The first provisional
chamber of deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
established in Austria was held in 1861 in the Währinger Straße in Vienna, in the building referred to as the " Schmerling Theater " which was used until 1883 to accommodate parliamentary meetings. In 1867 the first allocations of seats were established among parliamentarians who were framed in the number of 203: 54 Bohemians, 38 Galicians, 22
Moravians Moravians ( cs, Moravané or colloquially , outdated ) are a West Slavic ethnographic group from the Moravia region of the Czech Republic, who speak the Moravian dialects of Czech or Common Czech or a mixed form of both. Along with the Si ...
and 18
Austrians , pop = 8–8.5 million , regions = 7,427,759 , region1 = , pop1 = 684,184 , ref1 = , region2 = , pop2 = 345,620 , ref2 = , region3 = , pop3 = 197,990 , ref3 ...
. A subsequent electoral reform of 1873 brought the number of members from 203 to 353 also to open up this lower house more to the bourgeoisie and to favor the greater participation of non-aristocratic social classes in government operations. The deputies were elected for a six-year term of office. The internal distribution of seats was also divided on the basis of professions, reaching to include 85 members belonging to the landlord class, 21 between traders and artisans, 128 representatives of the rural class and 118 citizen deputies (with the clause, however, of the payment of taxes continuously for 10 years). In total, the political class of the
Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
gathered 6% of the adult population of the Empire. On June 14, 1896, the number of members was increased to 425 after the introduction of universal suffrage. Voters were again increased on January 21, 1907 to 516. As was the case for the upper house, the Austrian chamber of deputies gathered only the deputies of the Cisleitania region, that is the part of the empire with the exception of the Hungarian area which also enjoyed its own separate parliament since 1867 although gathered under the imperial crown. With the government of Prime Minister Count Eduard Taaffe, based on a strong centralization in Austro-German politics, it indelibly marked the decline of the parliamentary institution as a place of convention for the different nationalities of the Empire and after 1893 no government could maintain constant support of the majority in the imperial chamber of deputies.


The parliament and the emperor

The Emperor Franz Joseph, who initially ruled absolutely, had long strong suspicions against the parliament and the parliament does not take kindly to his autocracy. After all, the Emperor visited the parliament only twice during his reign, in the ceremony of the inauguration of the building, but this essentially due to the fact that the parliament presented itself to the eyes of the imperial court as a puppet element, while the power still remained firmly linked to the figure of the sovereign.


References


External links

Defunct lower houses Political history of Austria Austrian Parliament Austrian Empire 1861 establishments in the Austrian Empire 1918 disestablishments in Austria-Hungary {{Austria-poli-stub