[2] As lord lieutenant of the county of Belső-Szolnok, chief captain of Kővár and curator of the Reformed Church of Transylvania, Bánffy exercised considerable political influence outside parliament from 1875 onwards, but his public career may be said to have begun in 1892, when he became speaker of the house of deputies.

He succeeded in carrying the remaining ecclesiastical bills through the Upper House, despite the vehement opposition of the papal nuncio Antonio Agliardi, a triumph which brought about the fall of Gustav Kálnoky, the minister for foreign affairs, but greatly strengthened the ministry in Hungary.

The drastic electoral methods of Bánffy had, however, contributed somewhat to this result, and the corrupt practices were the pretext for the fierce opposition in the House which he henceforth had to encounter, though the measures which he now introduced (the Honvéd Officers' Schools Bill) would, in normal circumstances, have been received with general enthusiasm.

But in 1898 the opposition, now animated by personal hatred, took advantage of the ever-increasing difficulties of the government in the negotiations with Austria, and refused to pass the budget till a definite understanding had been arrived at.

[2] In 1906 Bánffy broke with the coalition on the military questions at issue with the king, which he wished to eliminate, and in 1908 he became leader of the progressive elements and, as president of the Franchise League, began an agitation for universal, secret, and equal suffrage.