Universal suffrage

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Universal suffrage (also general suffrage or common suffrage) consists of the extension of the right to vote to all adults, without distinction as to race, sex, belief, or economic or social status. This would include right to vote or participate in government, most often in a democracy.

In the first modern "democracies" only a limited number of people had a say in the running of the government - for example in Britain only male landowners with relatively large holdings had the right to vote, in most places (suffrage depended on local custom before 1832, so there were exceptions). In all modern democracies the number of people who could vote increased gradually with time. The 19th century featured movements advocating universal male suffrage - the extension to all males regardless of social standing or race. The democratic movement of the late 19th century, unifying Liberals and Social Democrats, particularly in northern Europe, used the slogan Equal and Common Suffrage. The Movement for Universal Suffrage consisted of a social, economic and political movement aimed at extending suffrage to people of all races.

1 Expanding suffrage
2 Other disenfranchisement
3 Universal suffrage in the world
4 Women voting
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] Expanding suffrage

The first movements toward universal suffrage (or manhood suffrage) occurred in the early 19th century, and focused on removing property requirements for voting. In the late 19th and early 20th century, the focus of universal suffrage movement became the removal of restrictions against women having the right to vote.

Several countries which had enacted universal suffrage had their normal legal process, or their existence, interrupted during the Second World War.

Many societies in the past have denied people the right to vote on the basis of race or ethnicity. For example, non-whites could not vote in national elections during apartheid-era South Africa, until the system came to an end with the first free multi-party elections in 1994. In the pre-Civil Rights Era American South, blacks often technically had the right to vote, but various means prevented many of them from exercising that right. The Ku Klux Klan formed after the American Civil War, largely to intimidate blacks and to prevent them from voting.

[edit] Other disenfranchisement

Some so-called "universal" suffrage systems still exclude some potential voters. For example, some jurisdictions deny the vote to various categories of convicted criminals or the mentally ill, and almost all jurisdictions deny the vote to non-citizen residents and citizens under the age of 18. In the United States, for example, suffrage for residents of the nation's capital, Washington, DC, is severely circumscribed.^{[citation needed]}

The development/integration of the European Union has changed a few matters. Citizens of an EU Member-State are allowed to vote in E.U. parliamentary elections, as well as some local elections. For example, a Briton living in Graz, Austria, would be able to vote in for the European Parliament as a resident of the "electoral district" of Austria, and to vote in Graz municipal elections. He would, however, not be able to vote in Austrian (federal) elections, or Styrian (state elections. Depending on the paradigm of federalism, this could either be compared to

a New Yorker living in Montréal being able to vote in city elections, but not in Canadian (federal) or Québec (provincial) elections, or
a New Yorker living in Sacramento, being able to vote in city elections, but not in Californian (state) elections.

[edit] Universal suffrage in the world

There is some debate with regard to which nation first installed complete democratic suffrage. New Zealand, South Australia, Finland, France, Norway and several other countries can lay claim the title of first country with complete democratic suffrage (with the caveat of certain restrictions, etc.).

States have granted (and revoked) universal suffrage at various times:
(in chronological order)

New Jersey -- 1776 - 1807 (first state to include both women and blacks. There was a property requirement; but its enforcement was and is disputed. New Jersey was independent until 1789.)
New Zealand -- 1893 (first nation to include women, however, women were not eligible to stand for parliament until 1919. Certain inequalities with Māori votes persisted^{[citation needed]})
South Australia -- 1894 (womens suffrage, but not universal. First state to also allow women as candidates for parliament. Other Australian states followed 1899-1908. Aboriginals of Australia were allowed to vote, but this right was taken away at the time of Federation in 1901 and they were not allowed to vote in South Australia again until 1963)
Australia – 1901 (womens suffrage, but not universal; the first federal election in Australia). In 1902 restrictions were imposed on Chinese, Indians, Polynesians (except Māori) and Indigenous Australians amoungst others and some of these persisted until 1965.
Grand Duchy of Finland -- 1906 as an autonomous Grand Duchy. (including women, first nation to also allow women as candidates. Finland became independent with same Universal Suffrage in 1917.)
Norway -- 1913 (including women, first independent nation to also allow women as candidates.)
Canada -- 1918 (last province to enact women's suffrage was Quebec in 1940; status Indians gained the right to vote in 1960)
Estonia -- 1918
United Kingdom -- 1918 (Women over 30 had been given the vote in 1918 with some property restrictions and in 1928 universal suffrage for all except non-landowners (mostly Catholic) in Northern Ireland)
Ireland -- 1918
Soviet Union -- 1918 (with the 1918 Soviet Constitution, although direct voting and the lifting of some political restrictions not until the 1936 Soviet Constitution)
After the Central Powers' defeat in World War I
- Austria -- 1918
- Czechoslovakia -- 1918
- Germany -- 1918 (revoked during 1935-1945 by the Nuremberg Laws. The restrictions applied also to the territories occupied by the Nazis during World War II)
- Hungary -- 1918
Democratic Republic of Armenia -- 1919 (became part of the Soviet Union in 1922)
Azerbaijan Democratic Republic -- 1919 (became part of the Soviet Union in 1922)
Democratic Republic of Georgia -- 1919 (became part of the Soviet Union in 1922)
Poland -- 1919
Luxembourg - 1919
The Netherlands - 1919 (universal male suffrage in 1917)
United States -- 1920 (not enforced in the South, and some parts of the North, until 1964.)
Sweden -- 1921 (universal male suffrage 1909)
Lithuania -- 1922
Romania -- 1923
Sri Lanka (as Ceylon) -- 1931 (Indian Tamils disenfranchised 1949)
Spain -- 1931 for males over 23, 1933 for people over 23 (revoked during Franco era, 1939-1975)
Turkey -- 1934
Italy -- 1945 (universal male suffrage 1912 for 30 years old people, 1918 for 21 years old)
Japan -- 1945 (universal male suffrage 1926)
France -- 1948 (universal male suffrage used in 1792, for the National Convention, enacted in 1793 and 1848, but repealed; used for plebiscites 1852-1870)
Israel -- 1948 (universal suffrage since independence)
Belgium -- 1948
India -- 1950 (as part of its constitution)
Argentina -- 1951 (universal male suffrage 1912)
Greece -- 1952 (universal male suffrage 1864; women permitted to vote in local elections 1930)
Malaysia -- 1955 (The victory of Union Party convinces the British to grant Malaysia's Independence in 1957)
Colombia -- 1956
Iran -- 1963 (Reforms under Shah's "White Revolution")
Australia -- 1965 (A murky constitutional history regarding the voting rights of Aboriginals of Australia was clarified and ratified at the federal government level and in subsequent state governments in the following years - see Human rights in Australia for more)
Switzerland -- 1971 (introduction of women's suffrage at the federal level; for cantonal elections this was not completed until 1990)
Portugal -- 1976
Liechtenstein -- 1984
South Korea -- 1987
South Africa -- 1994 (white women's suffrage in 1930)
Taiwan -- 1996
Bahrain -- 2002 (universal male suffrage in 1973, although parliament was suspended and dissolved in 1975 for approximately 30 years)
Kuwait -- 2005 (universal adult male suffrage since 1962, for citizens who are 21 or older, with the exception of ( 1 ) those who, at the time of elections, serve in the armed forces and, ( 2 ) citizens who have been naturalized for fewer than 30 years)

Those that still don't have any voting rights (for men & women) are Brunei (lost it after 1962) & the U.A.E. (status may change by Dec. 2006).

[edit] Women voting

The first women's suffrage (with the same property qualifications as for men) was granted in New Jersey in 1776 (the word "inhabitants" was used instead of "men") and rescinded in 1807.

The Pitcairn Islands granted restricted women's suffrage in 1838. Various other countries and states granted restricted women's suffrage in the latter half of the nineteenth century, starting with South Australia in 1861.

The first unrestricted women's suffrage in terms of voting rights (women were not initially permitted to stand for election) in a major country was granted in New Zealand. The women's suffrage bill was adopted mere weeks before the general election of 1893.

The first to grant universal suffrage and also allow women to stand for parliament was South Australia, in 1894.

In 1931, the Second Spanish Republic allowed women the right of passive suffrage with three women being elected. During the discussion to extend their right to active suffrage, the Radical Socialist Victoria Kent confronted the Radical Clara Campoamor. Kent argued that Spanish women were not yet prepared to vote and, since they were too influenced by the Catholic Church they would vote for right-wing candidates. Campoamor however pleaded for women's rights regardless of orientation. Her point finally prevailed and, in the election of 1933, the political right won with the vote of citizens of any sex over 23. Both Campoamor and Kent lost their seats.