1963 Constantinopolitan general election (The Sublime Porte)

The 1963 Constantinopolitan general election was held on September 8, 1963. The election was set to elect the members of the enlarged Chamber of Deputies, which was expanded to 106 members after the 1961 Census. Incumbent Prime Minister Mustafa Çetin was forced to step down from his post as he had served the maximum two consecutive terms as president of the National Republican Party. He would be replaced by Karen Zakaryan after the election. The election resulted in yet another victory for the National Republicans, despite a loss of seats and popular vote.

The election was characterized by tactical voting from the country's left-wing voters, with many of them abandoning their party allegiance to vote for the Social Republican Party, with the latter being the best-performing leftist party in the polls throughout the campaign. Despite this organization, the Social Republicans underperformed relative to polling that gave them around 30%. Meanwhile, the Conservatives, which became the country's largest opposition in the previous election, lost their status as largest opposition force while more than tripling their seats total.

Background
Throughout the previous eight years, Constantinople had been governed by the popular Mustafa Çetin, who represented the left wing of the National Republican Party, had introduced many social reforms that had made him largely popular among the electorate. Despite this continuing popularity, the National Republicans' rules led to Çetin stepping down as party president and prime minister following the election. In his stead, members of the Party elected Minister of Foreign Affairs Karen Zakaryan as their leader. Zakaryan represented the opposite faction of the party, which was more economically liberal and business friendly.

Throughout the campaign, Zakaryan's close connections to wealthy bankers and industrialists helped to paint a picture of an out-of-touch leader. This was worsened by the corruption scandals that had broken in the future prime minister's circle, despite Zakaryan himself being acquitted on all charges. However, the enduring popularity of the National Republican Party managed to secure the victory in the election, marking the continuation of a sixteen-year-long period of National Republican rule.

The opposition to the government had not made significant process since the last election, as the left was still divided between three competing parties. Despite the lack of a formal arrangement, the left-wing voters flocked towards the Social Republican Party as a tactical vote during the election, leading to a nine-fold increase in the party's number of seats and a 13% increase in its share of the popular vote. On the right flank of the National Republicans, the Conservative Republicans' momentum had fully dissipated with the election of the business-friendly Zakaryan as NRP party president, luring away economically center-right voters towards the ruling party.

Seventh Chamber
The seventh Chamber of Deputies witnessed the growing scandals of the prime minister. The notable Bridge Affair (1965) finally led to the dismissal of Zakaryan by his own party, bringing back Mustafa Çetin to power in May of 1965.

After an initial turn to the right following Zakaryan's accession to the role of prime minister, his attempted reforms were abandoned after his dismissal, with Çetin returning the National Republicans towards a broadly center-left platform of governmental interventionism and social progressivism. The Çetin III government introduced new social benefits, such as childcare and aid to low-income families, continuing the construction of the Constantinopolitan welfare state.