Riksdag Swedish king Gustav I Vasa to include representatives from all the four social estates: the nobility, the clergy, the burghers (property-owning commoners in the towns such as merchants etc.), and the yeomanry (freehold farmers). This form of "Ständestaat" representation lasted until 1865, when representation by estate was abolished and the modern bicameral parliament established. Effectively, however, it did not become a parliament in the modern sense until parliamentary principles were established in the political system in Sweden, in 1917. On 22 June 1866, the Riksdag decided to reconstitute itself as a bicameral legislature, consisting of "Första kammaren" or the First
Parliament of Finland Finland was preceded by the Diet of Finland (; , modern ), which had succeeded the Riksdag of the Estates in 1809. When the unicameral Parliament of Finland was established by the Parliament Act in 1906, Finland was an autonomous grand duchy and principality under the Imperial Russian Tsar, who ruled as the Grand Duke, rather than as an absolute monarch. Universal suffrage and eligibility was implemented first in Finland. Women could both vote and run for office as equals, and this applied also to landless people, with no excluded minorities. The first election to the Parliament was arranged in