General elections were held in Liechtenstein on 29 April 1869 to elect 6 of the 15 members of the Landtag. Half of the twelve elected members were up for re-election after the end of their six-year term, whereas the other half had been elected in 1866 elections. The six seats were indirectly elected by electors selected by voters, while two members were appointed by Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein.
Background The term of the elected Landtag was six years, but of the twelve Landtag members elected in the 1862 elections, six had to voluntarily resign after three years and allow for new elections in 1866. As such, in 1869 the remaining six members were up for election due to the expiration of their six-year term. Similarly, two princely-appointed members were also set to be re-appointed by Johann II, Prince of Liechtenstein due to the end of their terms.
Since the 1866 elections, princely-appointed Landtag member Anton Gmelch resigned his seat on 29 May 1867 and was replaced by Wilhelm Schlegel. Gregor Fischer resigned from the Landtag on 26 October 1868 and subsequently returned to Bavaria.
The Landtag's term was characterized by passing numerous laws including the Trademark Protection Act in 1866 and mandatory competition for church and presbytery construction projects in 1868.
Electors Electors were selected through elections that were held on 18 and 19 April; each municipality had two electors for every 100 inhabitants. All male citizens aged 24 and above that were self-employed were eligible to vote.
MunicipalityElectors+/–Balzers200Eschen180Gamprin60Mauren200Planken20Ruggell120Schaan200Schellenberg60Triesen18 +2Triesenberg200Vaduz160Total158+2Source: Vogt
Results
The electors met on 29 April in the hall of Vaduz Castle to elect six Landtag members and five deputy members. Of the 158 electors, 152 were present for the voting. The Landtag members and their deputies were elected in three ballots, with two other members being appointed by Johann II on 24 May. There were no political parties and the election of members was almost entirely focused on an individual's personality.
Elected members +First ballotElected memberMunicipalityVotesMarkus KesslerVaduz130Source: Vogt +Second ballotElected memberMunicipalityVotesKarl SchädlerVaduz101Ferdinand WalserSchaan80Source: Vogt +Third ballotElected memberMunicipalityVotesFranz Josef KindGamprin70Johann Georg MarxerVaduz75Johann Alois SchlegelTriesenberg46Johann Josef SchafhauserEschen46Source: Vogt Johann Alois Schlegel and Johann Josef Schafhauser received the same amount of votes, thus the result was decided via lottery which resulted in the election of Schlegel.
Elected deputies +First ballotElected memberMunicipalityVotesJohann Josef SchafhauserEschen98Johann Baptist FrickBalzers91Josef BargetzeTriesen80Source: Vogt
+Second ballotElected memberMunicipalityVotesMartin OehriEschen75Stefan RischSchaan69Source: Vogt
Appointed by the prince Appointed memberMunicipalityJosef WalserTriesenJohann Georg MattMaurenSource: Vogt
Aftermath Following the elections, Karl Schädler remained as President of the Landtag and Wilhelm Schlegel as vice president.
References
Literature