Elections for the Future: The Constituent Assembly

On April 3, 1848, the government issues a proclamation to convene a constituent assembly and publishes it in the Mémorial législatif et administratif. It bases its decision on the concessions made by the monarch on March 31. In this announcement, the term "National Assembly" is publicly used. The number of deputies to be elected is set at 74. But how should the election take place? Under the slogan of popular sovereignty, the discussion about extending voting rights has been fueling the public debate since March. While the clerical “party,” with the Luxemburger Wort as its mouthpiece since March 23, along with the left-liberal figures Charles André, Pierre Dams, and Mathias Hardt in the Diekircher Wochenblatt and the Echternacher Grenzbote, advocate for universal suffrage, conservative and constitutional liberals defend the property-based voting system in the Volksfreund and the Courrier du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg.The elections for the Constituent Assembly in April mark the first of three ballots in the "super election year" of 1848. Its members are elected in two stages according to the provisions of the 1841 constitution.