The election reform, based on universal and equal suffrage, filled the Germans with feelings of justified fear that their already threatened "national proprietary status" in Austria and Lower Styria would be challenged even further. From the very beginning, therefore, they strongly opposed the reform even though, in principle, they approved of the democratisation of thè "feudal" election System. To them, only such an election reform was acceptable which would, taking into account the "cultural development" and "tax-payment capability" of individuai nations, reestablish the leading role of the Germans within the Monarchy. An acceptable election reform in their opinion should have been such as to strenghten the ownership status of the Germans in Lower Styria, as well as in Carinthia and Carniola.