Senate of the Republic was the name of the upper house of
Turkish Parliament

Grand National Assembly of Turkey

The Grand National Assembly of Turkey , usually referred to simply as the Meclis , is the unicameral Turkish legislature. It is the sole body given the legislative prerogatives by the Turkish Constitution. It was founded in Ankara on 23 April 1920 in the midst of the Turkish War of Independence...

 between 1961-1980

History

Although the Turkish Parliament was established in 1920 to replace the older Ottoman Parliament

Second Constitutional Era (Ottoman Empire)

The Second Constitutional Era of the Ottoman Empire began shortly after Sultan Abdülhamid II restored the constitutional monarchy after the 1908 Young Turk Revolution. The period established many political groups...

, the parliament was composed of only the lower house. Turkish Constitution of 1961

Turkish Constitution of 1961

The Constitution of 1961 was the fundamental law of Turkey from 1961 to 1982. It was introduced following the 1960 coup d'état, replacing the earlier Constitution of 1924. It was approved in a referendum held on 9 July 1961, with 61.7% of the nation voting in favor...

 introduced the upper house named Senate of the Republic or Senate for short. The title Turkish Grand National Assembly referred to both wings at the same time. However, the activities of the both wings of the parliament were suspended after the coup of 1980. By the Turkish Constitution of 1982

Constitution of Turkey

This article relates to a current event. See also the Turkish constitutional referendum, 2010The Constitution of the Republic of Turkey is Turkey's fundamental law. It establishes the organization of the government and sets out the principles and rules of the state's conduct along with its...

 senate was abolished.

Composition of the senate

The senate was composed of 150 elected members and 15 members appointed by the president. There were also senators so called natural members. Natural members were the former presidents (including the president of Hatay Republic) and the 22 members of the 1960 coup committee . In the first year, the senate was composed of 188 members.

Elections

In 1961 the election system of the senate differed from the election system of the lower house. While d'Hondt method

D'Hondt method

The d'Hondt method is a highest averages method for allocating seats in party-list proportional representation. The method described is named after Belgian mathematician Victor D'Hondt who described it in 1878...

 was used for the lower house, majority (winner takes all

Winner takes all

Winner Takes All may refer to:* Winner Takes All , a BBC Books original novel* Winner Takes All , on the ITV network from 1976 to 1988, and on Challenge TV from 1997* Plurality voting system, a single-winner voting system...

) system was used for the senate. The majority system yielded some surprising results. For example outcome of the first (1961) election (disregarding independents) was as follows

Name of the party	Percentage of votes	No of seats gained	Percentage of seats
CHP Republican People's Party (Turkey) The Republican People's Party is a centre-left Kemalist political party in Turkey. It is the oldest political party of Turkey and is currently Main Opposition in the Grand National Assembly. The Republican People's Party describes itself as "a modern social-democratic party, which is faithful to...	37.2 %	36	24 %
AP Justice Party (Turkey) The Justice Party was a Turkish political party prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. A descendant of the Democrat Party, the AP was dominated by Süleyman Demirel, who served six times as prime minister, and was in office at the time of the military coup on September 12, 1980...	35.4 %	71	47 %
YTP New Turkey Party (1961) New Turkey Parti was a former Turkish political party- Background :Democrat Party which was the ruling party of Turkey between 1950 and 1960 was closed by the military rule in 1960. In 1961, a number of new parties were founded to fill the political gap of Democrat Party...	13.9 %	27	18 %
CKMP	13.4 %	16	11 %

Before the next elections however,the election system is changed to d'Hondt system on 17 April 1964.

Another difference was in the electoral period. The total serve term was 6 years, where 1/3 of the seats were up for election every two years.
The first election (for all 150 members) was held on 15 October 1961 The seats up for election were decided by casting lots for the second and third elections. The last election was held on 14 October 1979.