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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Grand Duchess re-elected in a plebiscite

September 29, 1919

The citizens of the tiny Grand Duchy of Luxembourg have voted in a plebiscite to retain Grand Duchess Charlotte has the head of state. The vote was in a margin of nearly two-one, "according to the first 8,000 ballots counted up to noon today." An economic alliance with France over Belgium received an even higher percentage of votes.
The voters had four choices on their ballots: retain Charlotte as head of state, select another ruler from the same family, installing another dynasty or establishing a republic.
Unofficial reports, according to the Associated Press, "reiterate the vote of women exceeded the men."
Grand Duchess Charlotte has returned to Luxembourg for the plebiscite's outcome. "I am sure the people voted for me because it was the surest way to preserve the independence of the country," she said after the outcome was made known.
She also spoke of her resignation, "and the passage of the referendum bill, which she said was the first time any monarch had placed a dynasty in legal jeopardy."
The Grand Duchess said she "was willing to do it because it seemed the right thing to do."

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