THE DEBATE ON PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS IN WOMEN’S SUFFRAGE IN HUNGARY, 1908-1918 JUDIT ACSÁDY By the turn of the 20 th century the issue of women’s suffrage rights in Hungary had become a widely discussed issue in political life. The electoral law at that time had been rather exclusive and guaranteed rights only for citizens of high social status. Earlier in Hungarian law 1 women with large real estate property could participate in local elections by sending an authorized (male) representative instead of themselves, but women could not be elected. Even though progressive movements, including feminists made several attempts to bring changes and establish a new political system based on universal suffrage rights, the identical reform bills to make electoral rights wider had all been rejected by Parliament until 1918. According to the law passed in 1918, as the first law accepted by the Autumn (Democratic) Revolution, literate women above the age of 24 were granted suffrage right. In the spring of 1919 a new political turn swept away these regulations and the Hungarian Soviet Republic introduced universal rights to vote but linked the exercise of those rights with trade union membership, so ‘non-proletars ’ were excluded from the elections 2 . After the brief era of the Soviet commune, ending in autumn 1919, the new right-wing rule that defined the following decades, overturned the regulations and restricted electoral rights and connected it to the census (according to age, literacy, property or family status). Universal suffrage 1 Law 1886 , Article XXII. 2 Andrea Pető and Judit Szapor. “A női esélyegyenlőségre vonatkozó női felfogás hatása a magyar választójogi gondolkodásra 1848-1990”. Az „állam érdekében adományozott jog” feminista megközelítésben. In Befogadás és eredetiség a jogban és a jogtudományban. Adalékok a magyarországi jog természetrajzához. Edited by Sajó András, 136–175. Recepció és kreativitás. Nyitott magyar kultúra sorozat. (Budapest: Áron, 2004), 143.