1980 Iranian legislative election

1980 Iranian legislative election
← 1975 14 March and 9 May 1980 1984 →
All 270 seats to the National Consultative Assembly
136 seats are needed for a majority
Registered20,758,391[1]
Turnout52.14%[1]
  First party Second party
 
Leader Mohammad Beheshti Abolhassan Banisadr
Party
Parties
 —
Alliance Grand Coalition President Office
Leader's seat Did not Stand Did not Stand
Seats won 85 33
Percentage 31.48% 12.12%
  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Mehdi Bazargan Karim Sanjabi
Party —
Parties
Alliance Eponym Group National Front
Leader's seat Tehran, Rey and Shemiranat
Seats won 20 4[a]
Percentage 7.40% 1.48%
Composition of the Assembly following the election
Head of government before election

Abolhassan Banisadr (Temporarily, as First Secretary of the Council of the Islamic Revolution)
Independent

Elected Prime Minister

Mohammad-Ali Rajai
Islamic Republican Party

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Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 13 March 1980, with a second round on 9 May.[4] They were the first elections to the Majlis since the overthrow of the Shah, and were contested to a considerable degree on a party basis.[5]

It resulted in a victory for the Islamic Republican Party, which won 85 of the 270 seats, whilst its allies won a further 45.[4] The party, joined by smaller Islamist groups in the Grand coalition was a highly organized force and put up candidates in most constituencies and dominated the campaigns, especially in the provinces.[6]

President Abolhassan Banisadr and his followers, presented dozens of candidates in Tehran and provinces under the list Office for the Cooperation of the People with the President.[6]

The Freedom Movement of Iran which failed to organize effectively, fielded at most only 40 candidates under the banner of Eponym Group[6] and won about 20 seats.[5]

Among National Front candidates, four won the election but their credentials was rejected on the grounds such as being "landlord" or "American agent" and they were not allowed to take their seat. Its leader Karim Sanjabi withdrew in the run-off because of the alleged "irregularities".[2][3]

Under the name Progressive Revolutionary Candidates list, People's Mujahedin of Iran endorsed 127 nominees nationwide and the official counts gave them as much as 20% of the votes in some constituencies, however they failed to win any seats. Its leader Massoud Rajavi received 531,943 votes in Tehran but was defeated in the run-offs.[7]

Tudeh Party lacked popularity and did poorly,[8] with their highest ranked candidate in Tehran receiving only some 100,000 votes. The party was unable to persuade other left-wing groups to unite.[9]

  1. ^ a b "1980 Parliamentary Election", The Iran Social Science Data Portal, Princeton University, archived from the original on 30 May 2012, retrieved 10 August 2015
  2. ^ a b Baktiari, Bahman (1996). Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics. University Press of Florida. p. 69. ISBN 978-0-8130-1461-6.
  3. ^ a b Houchang E. Chehabi (1990). Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B.Tauris. p. 286. ISBN 978-1850431985.
  4. ^ a b Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001), "Iran", Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook, vol. I, Oxford University Press, pp. 68, 74, ISBN 978-0-19-924958-9
  5. ^ a b Bakhash, Shaul (13 December 2011) [15 December 1998]. "ELECTIONS ii. UNDER THE ISLAMIC REPUBLIC, 1979-92". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. 4. Vol. VIII. New York City: Bibliotheca Persica Press. pp. 345–355. Retrieved 15 March 2016.
  6. ^ a b c Houchang E. Chehabi (1990). Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B.Tauris. p. 284. ISBN 978-1850431985.
  7. ^ Ervand Abrahamian (1989), "The Majles elections (February–May 1980)", Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin, Society and culture in the modern Middle East, vol. 3, I.B.Tauris, pp. 199–205, ISBN 9781850430773
  8. ^ Muriel Atkin (1983), "Soviet Relations with the Islamic Republic", SAIS Review, 3 (1): 190
  9. ^ Aryeh Yodfat (2012), The Soviet Union and Revolutionary Iran (RLE Iran D), Routledge Library Editions: Iran, Taylor & Francis, p. 85, ISBN 9781136833700


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