A drive device for a light-emitting display panel, having the more extended light-emitting life of an EL element, is provided. Drive switches SX1 to SXn select a reverse direction voltage -V immediately after starting of scanning to supply the voltage -V to all of EL elements in a scanning state. Subsequently, through the switches SX1 to SXn, constant current sources I1 to In are connected to data lines to be controlled for light emitting, and, a forward voltage +V1 (a voltage equal to or smaller than a light-emitting threshold one) is applied to data lines which do not contribute to light emitting. Thereby, the forward voltage is applied to the EL elements in a scanning state.