--- Bill Bartlett <billbartlett at enterprize.net.au>
wrote:
> At 9:37 AM -0700 25/4/03, andie nachgeborenen wrote:
>
> >No. Actually the first state to have universal
> suffrage was the
> >Soviet Union. "Competitive" elections inb Germany
> wereinhibited by
> >the anti-Socialist Laws, and political rights were
> accordingly
> >limited. Wilhemine Germany wasn't a dictatorship or
> an autocracy
> >like Russia, but it was nor a liberal democracy. it
> was probably
> >more like modern Iran.
>
> I believe the colony of South Australia had
> universal suffrage prior
> to Australian federation (1901). Aborigines lost the
> right to vote,
> indeed they lost citizenship entirely, upon
> federation and did not
> regain rights until 1967. This was originally due to
> a fear in the
> eastern states that Western Australia in particular,
> with its large
> aboriginal population, might abuse the system.
> (Though deep-rooted
> Australian racism played an important part too,
> obviously.) Prior to
> federation, South Australian aborigines and women
> had gained the
> right to vote in that jurisdiction. I can't recall
> whether one or
> both of these groups also had the right to stand for
> election,
> perhaps someone can remind me?
>
> You might want to nit-pick that South Australia was
> a British colony
> prior to federation, rather than a "state", but it
> had its own
> parliament and was substantially self-governing. As
> self-governing as
> Australia after federation anyhow.
>
> Since the Soviet Union only came into existence in
> 1917, your
> suggestion that it was the first state to have
> universal suffrage
> might be somewhat misleading.
>
> Bill Bartlett
> Bracknell Tas
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