The Chamber of Deputies of the Ottoman Empire was the lower house of the Parliament of the Ottoman Empire

Parliament of the Ottoman Empire

The Parliament of the Ottoman Empire was the first attempt at representative democracy at the imperial level in the Ottoman Empire. It was composed of two houses, the lower Chamber of Deputies and the upper "Committee of Leaders". It was first constituted in 1876, and initially lasted until 1878,...

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First Constitutional Era

In the First Constitutional Era

First Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)

The First Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire was the period of constitutional monarchy from the promulgation of the Kanûn-ı Esâsî , written by members of the Young Ottomans, on 23 November 1876 until 13 February 1878...

, which only lasted for two years, the initial selection of deputies ("Mebusan") was made by administrative councils in the provinces ("Meclis-i Umumi").

After the establishment of the "Meclis-i Umumi" in the provinces, the members selected the deputies from within the "Meclis-i Umumi" to form the "Meclis-i Mebusan" in the capital. The Meclis-i Mebusan had 115 members and reflected the distribution of the millets

Millet (Ottoman Empire)

Millet is a term for the confessional communities in the Ottoman Empire. It refers to the separate legal courts pertaining to "personal law" under which communities were allowed to rule themselves under their own system...

 in the empire. In the second elections there were 69 Muslim millet representatives and 46 representatives of other millets (Jews, Phanariotes

Phanariotes

Phanariots, Phanariotes, or Phanariote Greeks were members of those prominent Greek families residing in Phanar , the chief Greek quarter of Constantinople, where the Ecumenical Patriarchate is situated.For all their cosmopolitanism and often Western education, the Phanariots were...

, Armenians).