1931 Turkish general election

General elections were held in Turkey in 1931.[1] The Republican People's Party was the only party in the country at the time, as the Liberal Republican Party that had been set up the previous year had already been dissolved.[1] Voter turnout was reported to be 88%.[2]

1931 Turkish general election
25 April 1931
Total of 317 seats of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey
159 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout88%
  First party Second party
 
Leader Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Independents
Party CHP Independent
Leader since 9 September 1923
Leader's seat Ankara
Last election 335 0 seats
Seats won 287 30
Seat change 48 30
Prime Minister before election

İsmet İnönü
CHP

 Elected Prime Minister

İsmet İnönü
CHP

Background

Candidates were nominated by the Council of the Presidency of the CHP. Unlike in previous elections, candidates were sought from across the country and a total of 1,176 nominations for the 287 candidates.[1]

Electoral system

The elections were held under the Ottoman electoral law passed in 1908,[1] which provided for a two-stage process. In the first stage, voters elected secondary electors (one for the first 750 voters in a constituency, then one for every additional 500 voters). In the second stage the secondary electors elected the members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.[3]

Although the country was a one-party state at the time, thirty seats were set aside for independents. Independent candidates were required to be "republican, nationalist and sincere."[1]

References
  1. Myron E. Weiner, Ergun Özbudun (1987) Competitive Elections in Developing Countries, Duke University Press, p337
  2. Weiner & Özbudun, p340
  3. Weiner & Özbudun, p334
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