Early general elections were held in the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in April 1912. The ruling

Committee of Union and Progress The Ottoman Committee of Union and Progress (CUP, also translated as the Society of Union and Progress; , French language, French: ''Union et Progrès'') was a revolutionary group, secret society, and political party, active between 1889 and 1926 ...

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 Bourb ...

,The Decline of the Ottoman Empire in the Middle East and the 'Arab Awakening' before 1914
/ref> whilst the opposition Freedom and Accord Party only won six seats, a victory widely deemed fraudulent and won through intimidation. The election became known as the "Election of Clubs" (Sopalı Seçimler) to history, when Rıza Tevfik (Bölükbaşı), who was running for office as an Accordist in

Edirne Edirne (; ), historically known as Orestias, Adrianople, is a city in Turkey, in the northwestern part of the Edirne Province, province of Edirne in Eastern Thrace. Situated from the Greek and from the Bulgarian borders, Edirne was the second c ...

, revealed how he was taken and beaten by Unionist thugs while campaigning in Komotini.A. Can Tuncay, Büyük Üstad Rıza Tevfik, ''Mimar Sinan Sayı 83, Mart 1992''
/ref>

Background

The elections were announced in January 1912, making them the first early election in Turkish history. They were called after the

(CUP) lost a by-election to the new Freedom and Accord Party in Istanbul the month before, their candidate losing by a just 1 vote.Hasan Kayalı (1997
Arabs and Young Turks
University of California Press The Freedom and Accord Party was a successor to the Liberty Party of Prince Sabahaddin, which was banned following the 31 March Incident, and served to consolidate anti-Unionist opposition into one party. Founded in November 1911, the December by-election gave the newborn party a great deal of confidence. The CUP had hoped early elections would thwart the new party's momentum.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 early elections, to be held in April 1912, was held in the middle of the

Italo-Turkish War The Italo-Turkish (, "Tripolitanian War", , "War of Libya"), also known as the Turco-Italian War, was fought between the Kingdom of Italy and the Ottoman Empire from 29 September 1911 to 18 October 1912. As a result of this conflict, Italy captur ...

and the Yemeni revolt. The Italian capture of Libyan coastal cities made the Tripolitanian deputies restless, and increased scrutiny towards the CUP was pronounced. The lead up to the election saw partisanship heighten between the CUP and its opponents.

Campaign

The CUP platform represented centralist tendencies, whilst Freedom and Accord promoted a more decentralised agenda, including supporting allowing education in local languages. Although the two main parties competing in the election, the CUP and Freedom and Accord, were largely secular in their political outlook, issues such as the

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

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

vote was the most important in the Empire, both parties consistently accused one another of various other supposed offenses against Islamic tradition. Freedom and Accord 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 Freedom and Accord 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'' (, . ) 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 Unity of the Peoples, , needed to keep religion-based ...

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

Ottoman sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...

's office from the Caliphate. Although this accusation was almost identical to the one leveled by Freedom and Accord at the CUP itself, it was highly effective. Freedom and Accord 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, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

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

Ramadan Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar. It is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting (''Fasting in Islam, sawm''), communal prayer (salah), reflection, and community. It is also the month in which the Quran is believed ...

and the five daily prayers.

Armenian politics

The CUP went to the polls in an electoral alliance with most Armenian political organizations, including the

Armenian Revolutionary Federation The Armenian Revolutionary Federation (, abbr. ARF (ՀՅԴ) or ARF-D), also known as Dashnaktsutyun (Armenians, Armenian: Դաշնակցություն, Literal translation, lit. "Federation"), is an Armenian nationalism, Armenian nationalist a ...

. The Hunchaks deviated from the ARF, and formed an alliance with Freedom and Accord on 7 February 1912.

Aftermath

The CUP won an overwhelming majority in parliament, winning all but 6 seats in parliament, which was largely attributed to voter intimidation and fraud. Therefore, this election was the first fraudulent election in Turkish history. The manner of the CUP's victory led to the formation of the Savior Officers, a group aligned with the Freedom and Accord Party, whose aim was to restore constitutional government. After gaining support from the army in

Macedonia Macedonia (, , , ), most commonly refers to: * North Macedonia, a country in southeastern Europe, known until 2019 as the Republic of Macedonia * Macedonia (ancient kingdom), a kingdom in Greek antiquity * Macedonia (Greece), a former administr ...

, the officers demanded government reforms. Under pressure, the

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

Mehmed Said Pasha Mehmed Said Pasha (‎; 1838–1914), also known as Küçük Said Pasha (; "Said Pasha the Younger") or Şapur Çelebi or in his youth as Mabeyn Başkâtibi Said Bey, was an Ottoman Turkish monarchist, senator, statesman and editor of the ...

resigned. Sultan

Mehmed V Mehmed V Reşâd (; or ; 2 November 1844 – 3 July 1918) was the penultimate List of sultans of the Ottoman Empire, sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1909 to 1918. Mehmed V reigned as a Constitutional monarchy, constitutional monarch. He had ...

then appointed a new cabinet supported by the Officers and Freedom and Accord. 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 were two conflicts that took place in the Balkans, Balkan states in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan states of Kingdom of Greece (Glücksburg), Greece, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Montenegro, M ...

led to it being interrupted. Fresh elections were eventually held in

1914 This year saw the beginning of what became known as the First World War, after Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the Austrian throne was Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, assassinated by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip ...

. The CUP and ARF's alliance broke down when only 10 of its 23 candidates won their seats due to a lack of support.

Notes

References

{{Ottoman elections, state=expanded

Elections in the Ottoman Empire

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Electoral fraud in Turkey Election and referendum articles with incomplete results April 1912 in Europe April 1912 in Asia