1914 Ottoman general election
Appearance
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275 seats in the Chamber of Deputies | |||
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General elections were held in the
Chamber of Deputies
convened for the first time in May.
Background
Following Ottoman military failures in the
Kâmil Pasha was hostile to the CUP, and had been determined to use his appointment to destroy the party.After the coup the CUP was able to bring the cabinet under its control. Following the assassination of the new Grand Vizier
Liberal Entente, whose supporters had been involved in the assassination. The Entente was also weakened as the Empire lost territory in the Balkans, where many of its Christian supporters were based. The CUP made efforts to win support in the Arab provinces by making conciliatory gestures to Arab leaders, which also weakened Arab support for the Entente and enabled the CUP to call elections with unionists holding the upper hand.[1]
Conduct
Electoral fraud and coercion led to protests in several parts of the Empire. In the Hama Sanjak 27 of the 48 secondary voters signed a petition concerning the election in the Homs Sanjak. When Hama was due to vote, two-thirds of the voters refused to report to the polling station in protest at the conduct of the Homs election. Similar boycotts occurred in Acre due to irregularities in Safed and Tiberias.[1]