The ratio of local electors to population is in Piedmont 79%, but in Sicily less than.
The legislative power is vested in a congress of two chambers - the senate, composed of 30 members (two from each province and two from the capital), elected by the provincial legislatures and by a special body of electors in the capital for a term of nine years; and the chamber of deputies, of 120 members (1906), elected for four years by direct vote of the people, one deputy for every 33,000 inhabitants.
To secure election a candidate must at the first voting poll an absolute majority and a number of votes equal to one-fourth of the number of electors.
The diet, elected for six years, consists of 24 members, of whom 4 are elected by the largest landowners, 4 by those who pay tax on incomes of £150 or more, and 16 by the other electors.
But when Conrad died, the electors chose his nephew Frederick, surnamed Barbarossa, who united the rival honors of Welf and Waiblingen, to succeed him; and it was soon obvious that the empire had a master powerful Fmder!ck of brain and firm of will.