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 1914.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

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 ...

(CUP) was the only party to contest the elections,Myron E. Weiner, Ergun Özbudun (1987) ''Competitive Elections in Developing Countries'', Duke University Press, p335 and the newly elected

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 ...

convened for the first time in May.

Background

Following Ottoman military failures in the

First Balkan War The First Balkan War lasted from October 1912 to May 1913 and involved actions of the Balkan League (the Kingdoms of Kingdom of Bulgaria, Bulgaria, Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia, Kingdom of Greece, Greece and Kingdom of Montenegro, Montenegro) agai ...

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 ...

Kâmil Pasha Mehmed Kâmil Pasha (; , "Mehmed Kâmil Pasha the Cypriot"), also spelled as Kâmil Pasha (1833 – 14 November 1913), was an Ottoman Anglophile statesman and liberal politician of Turkish Cypriot origin in the late-19th-century and early-20th ...

was overthrown by a CUP-led coup in January 1913. 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 Mahmud Shevket Pasha in June, the CUP was able to crush its political rival, the 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.

Conduct

Electoral fraud and coercion led to protests in several parts of the Empire. In the

Hama Sanjak The Hama Sanjak () was a prefecture (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire, located in modern-day Syria. The city of Hama was the Sanjak's capital. It had a population of 200,410 in 1914. The Sanjak of Hama shared same region with Sanjak of Homs and Sanjak ...

27 of the 48 secondary voters signed a petition concerning the election in the

Homs Sanjak The Homs Sanjak (; ) was a prefecture (sanjak) of the Ottoman Empire, located in modern-day Syria. The city of Homs was the Sanjak's capital. It had a population of 200,410 in 1914. The Sanjak of Homs shared same region with Sanjak of Hama and Sa ...

. 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 The acre ( ) is a Unit of measurement, unit of land area used in the Imperial units, British imperial and the United States customary units#Area, United States customary systems. It is traditionally defined as the area of one Chain (unit), ch ...

due to irregularities in

Safed Safed (), also known as Tzfat (), is a city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of up to , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and in Israel. Safed has been identified with (), a fortif ...

and

Tiberias Tiberias ( ; , ; ) is a city on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee in northern Israel. A major Jewish center during Late Antiquity, it has been considered since the 16th century one of Judaism's Four Holy Cities, along with Jerusalem, Heb ...

References

{{Ottoman elections, state=expanded

Elections in the Ottoman Empire One-party elections

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 ...

Election and referendum articles with incomplete results January 1914 in Europe

Background

Conduct

See also

References