Kauffman_Ministry
The Kauffman Ministry was in office in Luxembourg from 19 June 1917 to 28 September 1918.
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Léon Kauffman, a member of the Party of the Right, was able to form a coalition government with the liberals on 19 June 1917.[1] This was the first time that a Prime Minister from the Party of the Right was in office.[1] One of the government's tasks was to reform the Constitution of Luxembourg, to make it more democratic.[1] In November 1917, the Chamber of Deputies began debating the introduction of universal suffrage.[1] There was particularly drawn-out discussion on articles 32 (origin of sovereign power), 37 (conclusion of secret treaties), 52 (universal suffrage, women's right to vote, proportional representation) and 75 (Deputies' salaries) of the Constitution.[1] There was a crisis when the government clashed with the Chamber and refused to revise article 32.[1] The government was unwilling (as the Chamber wanted) to risk offending the Grand Duchess by defining sovereignty as residing in the nation, rather than in the monarch.[1] The government also became discredited by its relations with the German occupiers -- it became known that on 16 August, the prime minister had been present at a private visit by the German chancellor Georg von Hertling to the Grand Duchess.[1] On 28 September 1918, the Kauffman Ministry was succeeded by a new government under Émile Reuter.[1]