First Constitutional Era

The first constitutional era did not include a party system. At the time, the Ottoman Parliament (known as the General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire) was seen as the voice of the people but not as a venue for the formation of political parties and organizations. The elections for the Parliament were held in accordance with the provisional electoral regulations. The General Assembly of the Ottoman Empire was composed in two houses. The lower house of the bicameral legislature was the Chamber of Deputies, while the upper house was the Senate, or Chamber of Notables. The initial selection of deputies was made by administrative councils in the provinces (also called Meclis-i Umumi).

After the establishment of the General Assembly in the provinces, the members selected the deputies from within the assembly to form the Chamber of Deputies in the capital. The Chamber had 115 members and reflected the distribution of the millets in the empire. In the second elections, there were 69 Muslim millet representatives and 46 representatives of other millets (Jews, Phanariotes, Armenians). The second body was the Senate, and the members were selected by the Sultan. The Senate had only 26 members. It was designed to replace the porte, and the Grand Vizier become the speaker of Senate. The two elections happened between 1877 and 1878.

First term, 1877

The members' reactions to the approaching war were very strong, and Sultan Abdul Hamid II asked for new elections citing the Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878).