The Implementations of the General Elections in Turkey, From The Decleration of Republic to 1950

Abstract

In the Ottoman State, the Muslim public's first acquaintance with the election took place in 1840 through the Councils of Taxation, which were formed in the sanjaks. The Ottoman public, which voted in the general elections for the first time -required by the 1876 Constitution-, realized this right to elect and be elected in appropriate with the regulations in the Elections of 1908. The two-stage election system of the Ottoman period, in which only the male population held right to elect and be elected, had been implemented in the Turkish Republic for long years. In almost all elections during the Republican Period, different method was implemented, initially the age of right to be elected was declined to 18, and later on it was increased to 22 -with female population's recognition of right to elect and to be elected. So as to allow different views in the general elections leading up to the 1946 Elections, in which only one party participated, different practices were implemented. In certain places, not presenting the Republican People's Party as candidate, forming an independent group within the party, presenting also the minorities as candidate, were some of these practices. By the 1946 Elections, one-stage election system was put into practice, and for the first time multi-party system begun, whereby in accordance with the election regulations, open voting and secret census was implemented. Voting by ballot, elections' supervision by adjudication and carrying on one-level election system, were part of the system that was implemented by the 1950 Election. In this election, the political power passed from the Republican People's Party to the Democratic Party. In this study, the elections in the Ottoman period and the election system have been depicted and the elections -including the 1950 Elections- as well as the election system that were practiced in the Turkish Republic, have been dwelled on.