1979 Iranian Constitutional Assembly election

1979 Iranian Constitutional Assembly election
All 73 seats in the Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution
Registered	20,857,391
Turnout	51.71%

Last updated August 18, 2024

Constitutional Convention elections were held in Iran on 3 and 4 August 1979. The result was a victory for the Islamic Republican Party.^[3] There were 10,784,932 votes cast in the elections, marking 51.71% turnout.^[2] Of all members elected, 68% were clerics.^[4]

Campaign

During the elections, Islamic Republican Party had the upper hand when many clerical organizations and friday prayer imams endorsed IRP candidates and the National Television gave them extra time. Their campaign literature featured large pictures of Ayatollah Khomeini, who urged the voters to elect candidates with "Islamic qualifications", on the grounds that only such candidates are able to draft a genuine Islamic constitution.^[5]

Different leftist groups fielded candidates for the elections, including the Tudeh Party of Iran, the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas, the Organization of Struggle for the Emancipation of the Working Class and the Socialist Workers' Party of Iran. Among the nominees of the latter was the only soldier to run in the elections and two people in Khuzestan Province who campaigned while being jailed.^[6]

People's Mujahedin of Iran ran 26 candidates under its banner, including Massoud Rajavi in Tehran, Mousa Khiabani, Ahmad Hanifnejad and two others in Azerbaijan, eleven in central provinces, six in the northern provinces of Caspian and four in Khorasan.^[7]

Boycott

Several parties including National Front and National Democratic Front boycotted the elections in protest to the new press law, the result of which was to close many newspapers.^[8] They also protested the election method, in which the voters should write names of the candidates on the ballot slips. They regarded it questionable, considering the high rate of illiteracy at the time.^[9]

Pan-Iranist Party was also among the boycotting groups.^[10]

Conduct

The elections were held nationwide, except for two constituencies in Kurdistan Province, where an insurgency was underway. The voting age was reduced to 16 before the elections to make more citizens eligible to vote.^[1]

Results

The Islamic Republican Party and its Khomeinist allies won the election, securing an absolute majority of seats. Of all members elected, 58 were candidates supported by the IRP-led Great Islamic Coalition while the Freedom Movement of Iran and the Muslim People's Republican Party had endorsed 7 and 6 respectively (some were included in more than one list).^[4] The IRP was successful nationwide except for East Azerbaijan and West Azerbaijan, both MPRP strongholds, as well as Sistan and Baluchestan where Sunni candidates won. Secular candidates were defeated by a wide margin and most of the members elected were not only Islamist, but also were clerics, as stated by Ervand Abrahamian:

The winners included 15 ayatollahs, 40 hojjat al-Islams, and 11 IRP-sponsored intellectuals. The only successful candidates not affiliated with the IRP were: Taleqani, who obtained by far the most votes in Tehran – however, he died soon after the elections; another Tehran cleric close to both Taleqani and the Mojahedin; two provincial clerics sympathetic to Bazargan; three delegates from Azarbayjan sponsored by Shariatmadari's Islamic People’s Republican Party; one member of the Liberation Movement; one spokesman of the Kurdish Democratic Party, who was promptly barred from his seat; and the four representatives of the official religious minorities, the Armenians, Assyrians, Jews and Zoroastrians.^[5]

Summary

A summarised results of the parties that won seats at the election is as follows:

Party		Seats	%

	Islamic Republican Party	55 / 73	75.3
	Freedom Movement of Iran	6 / 73	8.2
	Muslim People's Republican Party	4 / 73	5.5
	Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan ^{[lower-alpha 1]}	1 / 73	1.4
Source: Nohlen et al. (2001)^[3]

↓
55	7	6	4	1
IRP	Others	FMI	MPRP	KDPI

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References

1 2 Credentials of Ghassemlou were rejected.^[2]

1 2 Zabir, Sepehr (2012). Iran Since the Revolution (RLE Iran D). Taylor & Francis. pp. 34–35. ISBN 1136833005.
1 2 3 4 5 "The 1979 Assembly of Experts for the Drafting of the Constitution Election", The Iran Social Science Data Portal, Princeton University, archived from the original on 2015-09-24, retrieved 10 August 2015
1 2 Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001). "Iran". Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-19-924958-X.
1 2 Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (2014). A Critical Introduction to Khomeini. Cambridge University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-107-72906-3.
1 2 Abrahamian, Ervand (1989), "The Islamic Republic", Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin, Society and culture in the modern Middle East, vol. 3, I.B.Tauris, pp. 54–55, ISBN 9781850430773
↑ Robert Jackson Alexander (1991), "Socialist Workers' Party — HKS", International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement , Duke University Press, ISBN 082231066X
↑ Ervand Abrahamian (1989), "To The Masses", Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin, Society and culture in the modern Middle East, vol. 3, I.B.Tauris, p. 193, ISBN 9781850430773
↑ Axworthy, Michael (2016), Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic, Oxford University Press, p. 159, ISBN 9780190468965
↑ Menashri, Daṿid (1990), Iran: a decade of war and revolution, Holmes & Meier, p. 86, ISBN 9780841909496
↑ Nikazmerad, Nicholas M. (1980), "A Chronological Survey of the Iranian Revolution", Iranian Studies, 13 (1–4): 327–368, JSTOR 4310346

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[p1945-3] 1 2 Credentials of Ghassemlou were rejected.^[2]

[T&F-1] 1 2 Zabir, Sepehr (2012). Iran Since the Revolution (RLE Iran D). Taylor & Francis. pp. 34–35. ISBN 1136833005.

[IDP-2] 1 2 3 4 5 "The 1979 Assembly of Experts for the Drafting of the Constitution Election", The Iran Social Science Data Portal, Princeton University, archived from the original on 2015-09-24, retrieved 10 August 2015

[OUP-4] 1 2 Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001). "Iran". Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford University Press. p. 74. ISBN 0-19-924958-X.

[CUP-5] 1 2 Arshin Adib-Moghaddam (2014). A Critical Introduction to Khomeini. Cambridge University Press. p. 112. ISBN 978-1-107-72906-3.

[Abrahamian-6] 1 2 Abrahamian, Ervand (1989), "The Islamic Republic", Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin, Society and culture in the modern Middle East, vol. 3, I.B.Tauris, pp. 54–55, ISBN 9781850430773

[7] Robert Jackson Alexander (1991), "Socialist Workers' Party — HKS", International Trotskyism, 1929-1985: A Documented Analysis of the Movement , Duke University Press, ISBN 082231066X

[8] Ervand Abrahamian (1989), "To The Masses", Radical Islam: the Iranian Mojahedin, Society and culture in the modern Middle East, vol. 3, I.B.Tauris, p. 193, ISBN 9781850430773

[9] Axworthy, Michael (2016), Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic, Oxford University Press, p. 159, ISBN 9780190468965

[10] Menashri, Daṿid (1990), Iran: a decade of war and revolution, Holmes & Meier, p. 86, ISBN 9780841909496

[11] Nikazmerad, Nicholas M. (1980), "A Chronological Survey of the Iranian Revolution", Iranian Studies, 13 (1–4): 327–368, JSTOR 4310346

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v t e Elections and referendums in Iran
Presidential	1980 1981 (Jul) 1981 (Oct) 1985 1989 1993 1997 2001 2005 2009 2013 2017 2021 2024
Parliamentary	1906 1909 1914 1921 1923 1926 1928 1930 1932 1935 1937 1939 1941 1943–44 1947 1950 1952 1954 1956 1960 1961 1963 1967 1971 1975 1980 1984 1988 1992 1996 2000 2004 2008 2012 2016 2020 2024
Assembly of Experts	1982 1990 1998 2006 2016 2024
Senate	1949 1954 1960 1963 1967 1971 1975
Local	1968 1970 1972 1976 1979 1999 2003 2006 2013 2017 2021
Constituent	1925 1949 1967 1979
Referendums	1953 1963 1979 (Mar) 1979 (Dec) 1989
List of elections and referendums

v t e 1979 Iranian Constitutional Assembly election
Results	Tehran Khorasan East Azerbaijan Mazandaran Khuzestan Isfahan Fars West Azerbaijan Gilan Markazi Kerman Kermanshahan Hamedan Zanjan Lorestan Kordestan Sistan and Baluchestan Bushehr Semnan Yazd Hormozgan Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari Ilam Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Armenians Assyrians Jews Zoroastrians
Electoral blocs	Great Islamic Coalition Quintuple Coalition Septuple Coalition Grand National Alliance
Related topics	Assembly for the Final Review of the Constitution Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran December 1979 Iranian constitutional referendum