1931 Turkish general election


General elections were held in Turkey in 1931. 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. Voter turnout was reported to be 88%.

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.

Electoral system

The elections were held under the Ottoman electoral law passed in 1908, which provided for a two-stage process. In the first stage, voters elected secondary electors. In the second stage the secondary electors elected the members of the Turkish Grand National Assembly.
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."