Election to the House of Representatives in the Ottoman Empire 1877/78
General elections were held in the Ottoman Empire during the second half of 1877 . It was the last elections of the 19th century in the Ottoman Empire, as Sultan Abdülhamid II dissolved parliament a short time later.
background
The first general elections in the country's history were held earlier in 1877 after a new Ottoman constitution was promulgated in December 1876 . The new parliament opened on March 19, 1877, with a planned legislative period of three months. After a ten-day extension, which Sultan Abdülhamid II had agreed to, it was dissolved on June 28th.
Article 119 of the constitution called for a new electoral law to be implemented at the time of the second election. However, although it was passed by the House of Representatives, it was under discussion in the Senate and did not become law, so the election was held in accordance with the previous system. The provisional electoral regulation , which was passed on October 29, 1876, stated that the elected members of the provincial councils should elect the members of parliament. The candidacy was limited to men over 30 who spoke the Ottoman language and had full civil rights. Reasons for being excluded from the election were having dual citizenship, working for a foreign government, bankruptcy, working as a servant, or "having a bad reputation for what you did".
Aftermath
The newly elected parliament met for the first time on December 13, 1877, but was postponed by the sultan on February 14, 1878 under the pretext of the Russian Turkish War of 1877 . It did not meet again until the Young Turkish Revolution in 1908.
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c d Myron E Weiner & Ergun Özbudun (1987) Competitive Elections in Developing Countries Duke University Press, page 333
- ↑ a b c Hasan Kayalı (1995) "Elections and the Electoral Process in the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1919" (PDF; 444 kB) International Journal of Middle East Studies , Vol. 27, No. 3, pages 265-286
