1908 Ottoman general election

none 1908 Ottoman general elections 2nd Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire 275 seats in the Chamber of DeputiesMyron E. Weiner, Ergun Özbudun (1987) Competitive Elections in Developing Countries, Duke University Press, p334 1912 1877 Legislative CUP 1912 Ottoman general election Second 1877 Ottoman general election Ottoman Empire November–December 1908 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire Committee of Union and Progress Collective leadership 274 Liberty Party Prince Sabahaddin 1 PrensSabahattin.jpg CUPthumb|250px|Ottoman MPs visiting London after the declaration of the Second Constitutional Era. In the center Talât Bey, Lord Edward Grey and Ahmet Tevfik Pasha General elections were held in November and December 1908 for all 275 seats of the Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire, following the Young Turk Revolution which established the Second Constitutional Era. They were the first elections contested by organised political parties in the Ottoman Empire. Background The Young Turk Revolution in July resulted in the restoration of the 1876 constitution, ushering in the Second Constitutional Era, and the reconvening of the 1878 parliament, bringing back many of the surviving members of that parliament; the restored parliament's sole legislation was a decree to formally dissolve itself and call for new elections. The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP), the driving force behind the revolution, was in an advantageous position for the election. Because it was still a secret organization, the CUP did not organize itself into a proper political party until well after the elections in its 1909 Congress at Selanik. The CUP and the Armenian Dashnak Committee ran in an electoral alliance.Akçam Taner A Shameful Act Holt Paperbacks 2006 978-0-8050-8665-2 New York, NY 79 In the lead up to the election, Mehmed Sabahaddin's League for Private Initiative and Decentralization tr Teşebbüs-i Şahsi ve Adem-i Merkeziyet Cemiyeti established itself as the Liberty Party. The Liberty Party was liberal in outlook, bearing a strong British imprint and was closer to the Palace. It hardly had time to organize itself for the election. Under pressure from the CUP, the government arrested key supporters of Sabahaddin's as they attempted to campaign in Anatolia, and even presented death threats. Electoral system Ottoman electoral law The elections were held in two stages. In the first stage, voters elected secondary electors (one for the first 750 voters in a constituency, then one for every additional 500 voters). In the second stage the secondary electors elected the members of the Chamber of Deputies. The CUP was successful in abolishing quotas for non-Muslim populations, by amending the electoral to instead stipulate one deputy to every 50,000 males.Hasan Kayalı (1995) Elections and the Electoral Process in the Ottoman Empire, 1876–1919, Cambridge University Press, p276 Results The Committee of Union and Progress, the main driving force behind the revolution, won every seat in parliament except for one. However, its parliamentary group very quickly whittled itself down to a core group of 60 deputies,Philip Mansel, "Constantinople City of the Worlds Desire" quoted in Straits: The origins of the Dardanelles campaign gaining the upper hand against the Liberty Party. Many independents were elected to the parliament, mostly from the Arab provinces. The new parliament consisted of 147 Turks, 60 Arabs, 27 Albanians, 26 Greeks, 14 Armenians, 10 Slavs, and four Jews. horizontal Composición étnica del Parlamento Otomano de 1908.svg Ethnic composition of the 1908 Ottoman parliament #8F0000 Turks: 147 seats #009150 Arabs: 60 seats #FF0A12 Albanians: 27 seats #26D4FF Greeks: 26 seats #E0C516 Armenians: 14 seats #C4A96A Slavs: 10 seats #000000 Jews: 4 seats 1908 Meclis-i Mebusân members by vilayet (or sanjak) and ethnicity.svg Map of ethnicities of Ottoman MPs #ff2800ff Turks #008900ff Arabs #f7ff00ff Albanians #47c0fcff Greeks #b4029bff Armenians #0c666fff Serbs #ffa500ff Jews#3dff03ff Bulgarians center center|thumb|1020x1020px|Members of the Chamber of Deputies (1910), Servet-i Fünun Aftermath June 2024 Following the electoral victory, the CUP transformed itself from a clandestine organization to a political party. Before that would happen though, Abdulhamid II (1876 1909) would attempt to regain his autocracy in what would be known as the 31 March incident. See also 3rd Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire References Ottoman Ottoman Category:Elections in the Ottoman Empire Legislative election Category:Election and referendum articles with incomplete results Category:November 1908 in Europe Category:December 1908 in Europe