Page:The Constitution of the Czechoslovak Republic.pdf/15

 la Diète Tchécoslovaque en toutes matières législatives du même ordre que celle attribuées à la Diète ruthène.“

The organisation of the territory of Russinia is being carried out and is facilitated by section 8 of par. 3 of the Constitutional Charter. The unity of our State recognized inter alia in article 10 of the Treaty of St. Germain, is emphasized in par. 4, according to which, citizenship of the Republic is one and uniform.

At the head of the Charter of the Constitution stands the principle that: “The people is the sole fountain of state authority in the Czechoslovak Republic.”

The Charter does not treat this principle as a mere formula but endeavours to give constitutional life to it, limiting its application only in cases where the integrity and security of the state catagoricallycategorically [sic] demand restrictive stipulations.

Legislative power is unified—the autonomic diet of RussiaRussinia [sic] of course forms an exception. Our little state could not permit the different provincial diets, previously existing, to continue their functions. Par. 7, therefore, of the Charter declares the legislative, and executive powers of the diets of Bohemia, Moravia and Silesia at an end. The legislative body (National Assembly) is composed of two chambers: the House of Deputies and the Senate. Both chambers are elected by direct ballot on the basis of democratic rules of suffrage which recognize the absolute equality of both sexes (par. 8—17 of the Charter). The elections take place on the principles of proportional representation carefully worked out to the minutest details. A second and a third scrutiny secure as perfect a representation as is possible to the weaker political parties. The Rules of Franchise both for the House of Deputies as for the Senate draw no distinctions in regard of race or religion: they are equally just to all. It has been the earnest endeavour of our state ofto [sic] apply, in all its consequences, the principle expressed in Sect. 1 of Article 7 of the Treaty of St. Germain (§ 128. Sec. 1 of the Constitutional Charter). Our State has also conscientiously applied this principle in drawing up the Rules of Franchise.

It is important to note, too, that our Rules of Franchise are totally devoid of all that electoral trickery so characteristic of the Austrian franchise. A proportionately large number of seats has been, it is true, given to the constituency of Prague, but this is explained by the fact on the one hand this electoral district contains the capital of the Republic with its enormous possibilities of development and that on the other hand, the district was purposely neglected by the Austro-German governments. It is absolutely certain that the large influx of population continually going on will result in a large increase in the number of inhabitants. The Rules of Franchise, calculated to cover