Etetés és itatás a csongrádi és a dési választásokon 1901-ben : „Fertőzött” szavazatok és politikai közösségépítés = “Feeding and Watering” During the Elections in Dés and Csongrád in 1901 : „Infected” Votes and Political Community Building

Csik, Tamás (2026) Etetés és itatás a csongrádi és a dési választásokon 1901-ben : „Fertőzött” szavazatok és politikai közösségépítés = “Feeding and Watering” During the Elections in Dés and Csongrád in 1901 : „Infected” Votes and Political Community Building. LEVÉLTÁRI KÖZLEMÉNYEK, 96. pp. 259-290. ISSN 0024-1512

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Abstract

The essay examines the complex phenomenon “feeding and watering” through thewell-known cases of Dés and Csongrád following the parliamentary elections in1901. In both constituencies, the losing parties contested the results at theHungarian Royal Curia, which annulled the elections, citing – among other irreg-ularities – the large-scale provision of food and drink to voters. In the case ofCsongrád, the House of Representative suspended even the right to elect a repre-sentative for this elective parliamentary term.As neither contemporary legislation nor judicial practice provided a preciselegal definition of the “feeding and watering”, this study does not seek to reassessthe historical court decisions. Instead, it explores the boundary between thisunlawful custom and legally tolerated hospitality by analysing the political andsocial conditions of the 1901 elections, the local electoral environments, and themotivations of key actors involved in the campaigns.The analysis demonstrates that the „feeding and watering” often played a cen-tral role in the formation and maintenance of local electoral camps and thus thephenomenon goes beyond the simple bribery. Features of the contemporary elec-toral system – open voting, the spatial separation of voter groups, geographicaldistances within constituencies, local political and social relations, and forms ofpersonal responsibility – shaped processes of temporary political communitybuilding in much the same way as practices that were later judged to be unlawful.

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