Ottoman general election, 1908

General elections were held in November and December 1908 for all 288 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire. They were the first elections in the Ottoman Empire, competed in the political parties.

Background

The young Turkish revolution in July resulted in the restoration of the constitution of 1876, which ushered in the Second Verfassungsära and the reconvening of the Parliament of 1878. This brought back many surviving members of Parliament; the only introduced by the Act of Parliament was the decision to dissolve itself and call new elections.

Electoral system

In the first round of voting, voters given the choice of men (one for the first 750 votes in a constituency, then one for each 500 votes). In the second round, the electoral college elected the members of the Chamber of Deputies.

Result

The new parliament comprised 147 Turks, 60 Arabs, 27 Albanians, 26 Greeks, 14 Armenians, 10 Slavs and four Jews. The Committee of Union and Progress, the main driving force behind the revolution could count on the support of 60 MPs, placing it against the Freedom and Unity Party ( also: Liberal Union; LU) was able to prevail. The Liberal Union was a liberal- democratic party, was strongly influenced by British and was at the palace in detail. From the Armenian deputies were four members of the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (ARF ) and two of the Hunchak party.