Early general elections were held in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

in April 1912. Due to electoral fraud and brutal electioneering, which earned the elections the nickname Sopalı Seçimler ("Election of

Club Club may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Club'' (magazine) * Club, a '' Yie Ar Kung-Fu'' character * Clubs (suit), a suit of playing cards * Club music * "Club", by Kelsea Ballerini from the album ''kelsea'' Brands and enterprises ...

s"), the ruling

Committee of Union and Progress The Committee of Union and Progress (CUP) ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى جمعيتی, translit=İttihad ve Terakki Cemiyeti, script=Arab), later the Union and Progress Party ( ota, اتحاد و ترقى فرقه‌سی, translit=İttihad ve Tera ...

won 269 of the 275 seats in the

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

,The Decline of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and the 'Arab Awakening' before 1914
/ref> whilst the opposition

Liberal Entente The Freedom and Accord Party ( ota, حریت و ایتلاف فرقه‌سی, Hürriyet ve İtilaf Fırkası, script=Arab), also known as the Liberal Union or the Liberal Entente, was a liberal Ottoman political party active between 1911 and 1913, ...

(also known as the Freedom and Accord Party or the Liberal Union) only won six seats.

Background

The elections were announced in January 1912, after the CUP lost a by-election to the Entente in Istanbul in December 1911. The CUP had hoped early elections would thwart the efforts of the Entente to better organise itself.Hasan Kayalı (1995
"Elections and the Electoral Process in the Ottoman Empire, 1876-1919"
''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 27, No. 3, pp 265–286 The CUP platform represented centralist tendencies, whilst the Entente promoted a more decentralised agenda, including supporting allowing education in local languages.

Campaign

Although the two main parties competing in the election, the

(CUP) and the

, were largely secular in their political outlook, issues such as the

Islam Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...

ic religious piety of their candidates became sensationalised campaign topics. Seeing the potent amount of political capital to be gained by appealing to religion, as the

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

vote was the most important in the Empire, both parties consistently accused one another of various other supposed offenses against Islamic tradition. Entente members accused the CUP candidates of a "disregard for Islamic principles and values" and of "attempting to restrict the prerogatives of the sultan-caliph", despite the fact that many Entente members were quite progressive in their own lives and dealings. In return, the CUP, seeing that its previous policy of secular

Ottomanism Ottomanism or ''Osmanlılık'' (, tr, Osmanlıcılık) was a concept which developed prior to the 1876–1878 First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire. Its proponents believed that it could create the social cohesion needed to keep mille ...

(Ottoman nationalism) was failing, turned to a similar line of Islamist rhetoric as the Entente in order to drum up support among the Muslims of the Empire; it accused the Entente of "weakening Islam and Muslims" by trying to separate the

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire ( tr, Osmanlı padişahları), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to its dissolution in 1922. At its hei ...

's office from the Caliphate. Although this accusation was almost identical to the one leveled by the Entente at the CUP itself, it was highly effective. The Entente retorted by claiming that the CUP, in its previous attempt to amend the

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of Legal entity, entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When ...

, was covertly trying to "denounce" and abolish the ritual fasting during the month of

Ramadan , type = islam , longtype = Religious , image = Ramadan montage.jpg , caption=From top, left to right: A crescent moon over Sarıçam, Turkey, marking the beginning of the Islamic month of Ramadan. Ramadan Quran reading in Bandar Torkaman, Iran. ...

and the five daily prayers.

Aftermath

The manner of the CUP's victory led to the formation of the

Savior Officers Savior or Saviour may refer to: *A person who helps people achieve salvation, or saves them from something Religion * Mahdi, the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will rule for seven, nine or nineteen years * Maitreya * Messiah, a saviour or li ...

, whose aim was to restore constitutional government. After gaining support from the army in Macedonia, the Officers demanded government reforms. Under pressure, the

Grand Vizier Grand vizier ( fa, وزيرِ اعظم, vazîr-i aʾzam; ota, صدر اعظم, sadr-ı aʾzam; tr, sadrazam) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. The office of Grand Vizier was first ...

Mehmed Said Pasha Mehmed Said Pasha ( ota, محمد سعيد پاشا ‎; 1838–1914), also known as Küçük Said Pasha ("Said Pasha the Younger") or Şapur Çelebi or in his youth as Mabeyn Başkatibi Said Bey, was an Ottoman monarchist, senator, statesman ...

resigned. Sultan

Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd ( ota, محمد خامس, Meḥmed-i ḫâmis; tr, V. Mehmed or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) reigned as the 35th and penultimate Ottoman Sultan (). He was the son of Sultan Abdulmejid I. He succeeded his half-brother ...

then appointed a new cabinet supported by the Officers and the Entente. On 5 August 1912, Mehmed V called for early elections. However, with the election underway in October, the outbreak of the

Balkan Wars The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defe ...

led to it being interrupted. Fresh elections were eventually held in 1914. The CUP went to the polls in an electoral alliance with the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation ( hy, Հայ Յեղափոխական Դաշնակցութիւն, ՀՅԴ ( classical spelling), abbr. ARF or ARF-D) also known as Dashnaktsutyun (collectively referred to as Dashnaks for short), is an Armenian ...

, but the alliance broke down after only 10 of its 23 candidates won seats due to a lack of support from the CUP.

References

{{Ottoman elections, state=expanded

Elections in the Ottoman Empire 1912 in the Ottoman Empire

Background

Campaign

Aftermath

See also

References