Elections in the Ottoman Empire

During the late Ottoman Empire, some elements of government were democratized. Seven general elections were held for the Chamber of Deputies, the popularly elected lower house of the General Assembly, the Ottoman parliament, two in the First Constitutional Era (1877–1878), and five in the Second Constitutional Era (1908–1920). General assemblies used Ottoman electoral law. Local elections were held for provincial (Vilayet) assemblies, though they quickly fell out of fashion. In addition, Armenian and Jewish millets had their own assemblies: an Armenian National Assembly and a Jewish General Assembly, which held millet wide elections, with varying degrees of suffrage granted to laity outside Istanbul.

Before the Tanzimat, villages had long elected mukhtars, and for minorities: local ethnarchs, or kocabaşı.

• Ottoman general election, 1877 (first)
• Ottoman general election, 1877 (second)
• 1908 Ottoman general election
• 1912 Ottoman general election
• 1914 Ottoman general election
• 1919 Ottoman general election
• 1920 Ottoman general election

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2024)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2024)

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (October 2024)