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 ...

during the second half of 1877.Myron E Weiner & Ergun Özbudun (1987) ''Competitive Elections in Developing Countries'' Duke University Press, p333

Background

General elections A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. General elections ...

had been held earlier in 1877 after a new constitution was promulgated in December 1876.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 new Parliament opened on 19 March 1877, with a planned lifetime of three months. With a ten-day extension agreed by Sultan

Abdul Hamid II Abdulhamid II or Abdul Hamid II (; ; 21 September 184210 February 1918) was the 34th sultan of the Ottoman Empire, from 1876 to 1909, and the last sultan to exert effective control over the fracturing state. He oversaw a Decline and modernizati ...

, it was dissolved on 28 June. Article 119 of the constitution required a new electoral law to be in place by the time of the second elections. However, although it had been passed by the Chamber of Deputies, it was still under discussion by the Senate, and had not become law, so the election was held in accordance with the previous system. The Provisional Electoral Regulations issued on 29 October 1876 stated that the elected members of the Provincial Administrative Councils would elect MPs. Candidature was limited men above the age of 30 who was competent in Turkish and had full civil rights. Reasons for disqualification included holding dual citizenship, being employed by a foreign government, being bankrupt, employed as a servant or having "notoriety for ill deeds".

Aftermath

The newly elected Parliament first convened on 13 December 1877, but was prorogued by the Sultan on 14 February 1878 under the pretext of the war with Russia. It did not reconvene until 1908.

References

{{Ottoman elections, state=expanded Ottoman Ottoman 1877 2

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 ...

1877 Ottoman 2