2003 Tehran City Council election

Last updated
2006 Islamic City Council of Tehran election
Flag of Iran.svg
  1999 28 February 2003 2006  

15 City Council seats
8 seats needed for a majority
Turnout12%
Alliance Conservatives Reformists
Seats won
14 / 15
0 / 15
Seat changeIncrease2.svg 14Decrease2.svg 15
Alliance Nationalist-Religious Freedom-Seekers
Coalition
Seats won
0 / 15
0 / 15

Chairman before election

Vacant

Elected Chairman

Mehdi Chamran
Conservatives

An election to the Islamic City Council of Tehran took place on 28 February 2003, along with the local elections nationwide.

Contents

The results showed a victory for the conservative Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, that gained 14 out of 15 seats, and a massive defeat for all of the Reformist groupings, as well as the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran and the Freedom Movement of Iran.

The election is seen as the first in a series of electoral victories for the conservatives, followed by the 2004 legislative election and the 2005 presidential election. Historian Ervand Abrahamian attributes the result to the conservatives retaining their 25% voter base, while "large numbers of women, college students, and other members of the salaried middle class stayed home". [1]

Voter turnout fell to 12% in this election. [2]

This election also marked rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to national prominence, because he was subsequently elected as the Mayor of Tehran and his profile was raised for his presidential campaign in 2005. [3]

Campaign

Conservatives

Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran
Mayoral nominee: Not declared
Campaign manager: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Listed candidates
1 Mehdi Chamran 2 Abbas Sheybani
3 Nader Shariatmadari 4 Hassan Bayadi
5 Hassan Ziari 6 Habib Kashani
7 Mahmoud Khosravi-Vafa 8 Hamzeh Shakib
9 Khosro Daneshjou 10 Masoud Zaribafan
11 Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani 12 Nasrin Soltankhah
13 Manzar Khayyer-Habibollahi 14 Mahnoush Motamedi-Azar
15Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri-Tehrani

Most of the figures from the conservative camp sat out of the election and did not enroll as a candidate. [4]

The faction put forward one single list under the banner of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (ABII), an alliance between old guard conservatives and new forces within the faction. [5] The ABII billed themselves as technocrats with the expertise to run the city while key conservative parties and organizations kept a low-profile during the days leading to the election. No conservative party released candidate lists for the election. [6]

Islamic Coalition Party's leading member Hamidreza Taraghi told press: "Our campaign policy is not to publish any statements or posters... we do not wish to politicize the situation... we are trying not to support those individuals who have greater political inclination than professional expertise". [7]

Campaign manager of the ABII during the elections was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The campaign focused on calling for members of Basij and their families to vote for the group. [8] In one newspaper ad, many ABII members appeared clean-shaven like their reformist rivals, in order to display technological seriousness. [6]

Reformists

Islamic Iran Participation Front
Mayoral nominee: Mohsen Safaei Farahani
Listed Candidates
1 Mostafa Tajzadeh 2 Alireza Rajaei
3Hossein Zaman4Mojtaba Badi'i
5Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer6Davoud Asgari
7Ahmad Mousazadeh8Hamid Majedi
9 Majid Farahani 10Nastaran Nassiri
11Amir Mansouri12Majid Shafipour
13Taghi Nourbakhsh14Mohammadreza Behzadian
15Nahid Jalali
Source: ISNA
Executives of Construction Party
Mayoral nominee: Gholamhossein Karbaschi
Listed candidates (incomplete)
Gholamreza GhobbehAbolghassem Ashouri
Kamal AziminiaMohsen Vaheb
Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaei Mohammadreza Behzadian
Rasoul Khadem Hengameh Shahidi
Ali-Asghar Negarandeh
Source: Jamejam Online, ISNA

The Reformists who supported the incumbent President Mohammad Khatami, entered the elections divided. [4] They had engaged an inter-factional rivalry, possibly out of overconfidence that they will win the election. [9] In January, disagreements were reported between 2nd of Khordad coalition members over compiling a shared list of candidates. [7]

Association of Combatant Clerics (ACC) declared that it would not issue a list for itself, but will endorse a list of candidates if all reformist parties and organizations reach an agreement. [7]

As the reformist parties were involved with infighting, student organizations and journalists who had played an important in mobilizing voters to support the reformists in previous elections were either silent or withdrew their support from the camp. The Office for Strengthening Unity (OSU) released a statement and declared that it is not supporting the reformists because they were not actually addressing people's concerns. [10]

Unified Front of 2nd of Khordad
Mayoral nominee: Not declared
Coalition members
Listed candidates
1 Ebrahim Asgharzadeh 2 Elaheh Rastgou
3 Ahmad Hakimipour 4 Rahmatollah Khosravi
5Mohammad-Ali Rahmani6Fayyaz Zahed
7 Mohsen Sorkhou 8Hassan Sadeghi
9Latif Safari10Davoud Asgari
11Mohsen Ghamsari12 Morteza Lotfi
13Hassan Mokhtari14Karim Malek-Asa
15Mohammadreza Bahmaei
Source: ISNA, ISNA
List of Reformist Journalists
1 Mostafa Tajzadeh 2 Ebrahim Asgharzadeh
3 Ahmad Hakimipour 4Ali-Asghar Negarandeh
5 Nikahang Kowsar 6 Morteza Lotfi
7 Hengameh Shahidi 8 Omid Memarian
9Mohammadreza Karimi10Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
11Saeed Razavi-Faqih12Latif Safari
13 Alireza Rajaei 14Behrouz Behzadi
15Fayyaz Zahedi
Source: ISNA

On 19 February 2003, Ali-Mohammad Gharbiani of election headquarters of the 2nd of Khordad coalition said that names of 33 candidates has been compiled for 15 spots on the final list. However, not every party agreed that all names should be on the list. [7]

Major disagreements were reported in media between the Executives of Construction Party (ECP) and the Islamic Iran Solidarity Party (IISP). [7] It was also reported that the latter had threatened that it would not be part of the coalition if its secretary-general Ebrahim Asgharzadeh is not included. Asgharzadeh had recently made negative remarks about Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), a leading party in the coalition, which led to resignation of some IISP members in protest. [7] On the other hand, Majid Farahani of the IIPF said his party will reconsider participation in the coalition if certain candidates are included in the list. [7]

Due to differences of opinion being continued between these parties, each of the ECP, the IIPF and the IISF released separate candidate lists. [6]

ECP campaign presented their candidates as "pragmatic "professionals" who can deliver better city services and end partisan bickering". [4]

According to The Economist , the "star candidate" of the reformist camp was Mostafa Tajzadeh [11] who belonged to the IIPF list. Analysts expected that the party would show poorly. [4]

Religious-Nationalists

Friends of Bazargan, Taleghani, Sahabi
Leader: Ebrahim Yazdi
Listed Candidates
1 Abolfazl Bazargan 2 Mohammad Tavasoli
3 Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi 4 Gholam-Abbas Tavassoli
5Hassan Farid-Alam6 Khosrow Mansourian
7 Amir Khorram 8Majid Hakimi
9Tahereh Taleghani10 Alireza Rajaei
11Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar12Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
13Saeed Razavi-Faqih14Leila Liaghat
Source: ISNA
Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists
Leader: Ezzatollah Sahabi
Listed Candidates
1 Mohammad Tavasoli 2Mohammad-Hassan Shahidi
3 Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi 4 Abolfazl Bazargan
5Hassan Farid-Alam6 Mostafa Tajzadeh
7Latif Safari8 Khosrow Mansourian
9Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar10 Alireza Rajaei
11Mojtaba Badi'i12Mostafa Izadi
13 Issa Saharkhiz 14Ahmad Mousazadeh
Source: ISNA

Members of liberal opposition groups based inside Iran declared themselves candidates for the election. Due to the local elections being exempt from Guardian Council vetting process, the dissidents were allowing to run by the reformist-dominated election board in Tehran. [12] [13]

Among the groups were the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) and the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists. The former issued a statement urging the voters to show up for the election, which said: "those not supporting the municipal elections are, in fact, against the council-oriented system of government and against democracy and the reform process". [6]

Since the 1980s, the faction was banned from running for elections and their freedom to run was harshly criticized by the conservatives. A court sent a letter to the election board, calling the groups and their qualification illegal. [10]

Society of Women of the Islamic Revolution
Leader: Azam Taleghani
Listed Candidates
1 Alireza Rajaei 2Hossein Ahmadi
3Mostafa Izadi4Mojtaba Badi'i
5 Mostafa Tajzadeh 6 Mohammad Tavasoli
7 Issa Saharkhiz 8Mohammad-Hassan Shahidi
9Tahereh Taleghani10Hassan Farid-Alam
11Saeid Madani12Marzieh Mortazi-Langeroudi
13 Khosrow Mansourian 14Hamid Nouhi
15Zohreh Aghajari (withdrew)
Source: ISNA

Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, slammed "irregularities" in qualifying members of the groups and said the elections would be invalidated if they won. [12]

Campaign for Mohsen Sazegara

Mohsen Sazegara who had been disillusioned with the reformists and tried to run in the 2001 presidential election against the incumbent President Mohammad Khatami (being disqualified by the Guardian Council), was jailed at the time of the election and in protest conducted a hunger strike. [14] In the election, a list of fifteen liberals was announced by friends of Sazegara, led by one of his brothers, pledging to appoint Sazegara as the next mayor if they were elected. They printed big pictures of Sazegara and installed them on almost every major street in the city. Sazegara was soon released from imprisonment. [14]

American conservative analyst Joshua Muravchik attributes release of Sazegara to the campaign, which caused the authorities "fearing that this might attract a large protest vote". [14]

National Coalition of Freedom-Seekers
Mayoral nominee: Mohsen Sazegara
Listed candidates (incomplete)
Saeid HaghiMehdi Sazegara
Mohsen VahebGholamhossein Khorshidi
Alireza Rajaei
Source: ISNA

Results

#CandidateAffiliationVotes%
Sitting Members
1 Mehdi Chamran Alliance of Builders 192,71636.57
2 Abbas Sheybani Alliance of Builders 178,35133.84
3 Nader Shariatmadari Alliance of Builders 104,14719.76
4 Hassan Bayadi Alliance of Builders 103,15019.57
5 Hassan Ziari Alliance of Builders 100,45419.06
6 Habib Kashani Alliance of Builders 99,01318.78
7 Mahmoud Khosravivafa Alliance of Builders 98,39018.67
8 Hamzeh Shakib Alliance of Builders 98,31318.65
9 Khosro Daneshjou Alliance of Builders 98,29118.65
10 Masoud Zaribafan Alliance of Builders 95,97118.21
11 Rasoul Khadem Independent92,60617.57
12 Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani Alliance of Builders 90,83217.24
13 Nasrin Soltankhah Alliance of Builders 90,02917.08
14 Manzar Khayyer-Habibollahi Alliance of Builders 87,69016.64
15 Mahnoush Motamedi-Azar Alliance of Builders 85,83916.29
Alternate Members
16 Mostafa Tajzadeh Reformist 66,19612.56
17Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri-Tehrani Alliance of Builders 54,61610.36
18Abolghassem Ashouri Reformist 51,4929.77
19 Ebrahim Asgharzadeh Reformist 45,5198.36
20Mehdi Ghasemi-KajaniIndependent41,8447.94
21 Alireza Rajaei Nationalist-Religious 36,0786.84
Defeated
22Gholamreza Ghobbeh Reformist 35,9986.83
23 Abolfazl Bazargan Nationalist-Religious 34,6426.57
24Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer Reformist 32,8676.24
25Mohammadreza Behzadian Reformist 32,2296.11
26 Ali Fathollahzadeh Independent31,6336.00
27Latif Safari Reformist 29,9605.68
28 Seyyed Mansour Razavi Reformist 28,5885.42
29 Amir Abedini Independent27,7825.27
30 Gholam-Abbas Tavassoli Nationalist-Religious 26,2264.98
31Tahereh Taleghani Nationalist-Religious 23,5974.48
32Hamid Majedi Reformist 23,0584.37
33Hossein Zaman Reformist 22,1564.20
34 Mohammad Tavasoli Nationalist-Religious 21,9224.16
35Mojtaba Badi'i Reformist 21,6894.11
36 Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaei Reformist 20,9813.98
37Tahereh TaherianIndependent20,8713.96
38 Mohammad-Hossein Doroudian Reformist 19,9333.78
39Kamal Aziminia Reformist 19,5323.71
40Saeed Razavi-Faqih Nationalist-Religious 19,1493.63
41 Elaheh Rastgou Reformist 19,0153.61
42 Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi Nationalist-Religious 18,7813.56
43Davoud Asgari Reformist 18,4743.51
44 Ahmad Hakimipour Reformist 18,2723.47
45Ahmad Mousazadeh Reformist 17,6453.35
46Leila Liaghat Nationalist-Religious 16,9263.21
47Mostafa Izadi Nationalist-Religious 16,7843.18
48Hassan Farid-Alam Nationalist-Religious 16,6203.15
49 Hengameh Shahidi Reformist 17,5843.34
50 Morteza Lotfi Reformist 16,0823.05
51Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar Nationalist-Religious 15,9433.03
53Seyyed Amir Mansouri Reformist 15,8093.00
53Nahid Jalali Reformist 15,7512.99
54Majid Shafipour-Motlagh Reformist 15,4382.93
55Nastaran Nassiri Reformist 14,8462.82
56 Omid Memarian Reformist 14,6802.79
57Mir Ali-Asghar Negarandeh Reformist 14,0372.66
58 Majid Farahani Reformist 13,7252.60
59Hamzeh Karami Reformist 13,6642.59
60Mahmoud Amanpour-GharaeiIndependent13,2572.52
61Mohsen Saberi-QomiIndependent12,7352.42
62 Khosrow Mansourian Nationalist-Religious 12,7192.41
63Shahram Salmasi-JavidIndependent12,6082.39
64Seyyed Taghi Nourbakhsh Reformist 12,0952.30
65Mohammad-Mehdi Sazegara Reformist 10,5902.01
66 Issa Saharkhiz Reformist 10,4451.98
67 Mohsen Sorkhou Reformist 9,4891.80
68 Amir Khorram Nationalist-Religious 9,2391.75
69 Rahmatollah Khosravi Reformist 8,8421.68
70Majid Hakimi Nationalist-Religious 8,4911.61
Invalid/blank votes35,5506.31
Total Votes562,522100

    Source: Ettela'at International (1 Archived 2017-09-01 at the Wayback Machine 2)

    Related Research Articles

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Islamic Iran Participation Front</span> Islamic political party in Iran

    The Islamic Iran Participation Front was a reformist political party in Iran. It was sometimes described as the most dominant member within the 2nd of Khordad Front.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Iranian legislative election</span>

    The Iranian parliamentary elections of February 20 and May 7, 2004 were a victory for Islamic conservatives over the reformist parties. Assisting the conservative victory was the disqualification of about 2500 reformist candidates earlier in January.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Iranian reformists</span> Progressive political faction in Iran

    The Reformists are a political faction in Iran. Iran's "reform era" is sometimes said to have lasted from 1997 to 2005—the length of President Mohammad Khatami's two terms in office. The Council for Coordinating the Reforms Front is the main umbrella organization and coalition within the movement; however, there are reformist groups not aligned with the council, such as the Reformists Front. Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist, was elected president following the 2024 Iranian presidential election, and was subsequently approved by the Supreme Leader on the 28th of July, having been inaugurated two days afterwards in Tehran.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2005 Iranian presidential election</span>

    Presidential elections were held in Iran 17 June 2005, with a second round run-off on 24 June. Mohammad Khatami, the outgoing president of Iran, stepped down on 2 August 2005, after serving his maximum two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic republic's constitution.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Mostafa Moeen</span>

    Mostafa Moeen is an Iranian politician, professor of pediatrics, and a human rights activist who is currently founder and president of the Front for Human Rights and Democracy in Iran. He was a presidential candidate for the 2005 Iranian presidential election. His campaign enjoyed the support of some reformist parties and organizations, headed by the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF).

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Executives of Construction Party</span> Reformist political party in Iran

    The Executives of Construction of Iran Party is a reformist political party in Iran, founded by 16 members of the cabinet of the then President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1996. The party is a member of Council for Coordinating the Reforms Front.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Hadi Khamenei</span> Iranian Islamic cleric and politician

    Hujjat al-Islam Sayyid Hadi Khamenei is an Iranian reformist politician, mujtahid and linguist. He is a key member of the reformist Association of Combatant Clerics, and a former deputy of the Majlis of Iran representing a district in Tehran.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Ebrahim Asgharzadeh</span> Iranian activist and politician, hostage-taker during the Iran Hostage Crisis

    Ebrahim Asgharzadeh is an Iranian political activist and politician. He served as a member of the 3rd Majlis from 1988–1992 and as a member of the first City Council of Tehran from 1999–2003. His career in politics started as one of the leaders of the group Muslim student followers of the Imam's line that took over the American embassy and held American embassy staff hostage for 444 days.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2000 Iranian legislative election</span>

    Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 18 February 2000, with a second round on 5 May. The result was a solid victory for 2nd of Khordad Front and its allies, the reformist supporters of President Mohammad Khatami.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Morteza Alviri</span> Iranian politician (born 1948)

    Morteza Alviri is an Iranian politician who served as Mayor of Tehran from 1999 to 2001.

    Iranian City and Village Councils elections, 2003 took place in February 2003, the second time local elections for city and village councils had taken place since being introduced in 1999, and 905 city and 34,205 village councils were up for election.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2009 Iranian presidential election</span>

    Presidential elections were held in Iran on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad had won the election with 62% of the votes cast, and that Mir-Hossein Mousavi had received 34% of the votes cast. There were large irregularities in the results and people were surprised by them, which resulted in protests of millions of Iranians, across every Iranian city and around the world and the emergence of the opposition Iranian Green Movement.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2008 Iranian legislative election</span>

    Legislative elections for Majlis of Iran were held on 14 March 2008, with a second round held on 25 April 2008. Conservatives loyal to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad were considered the victors of the election, at least in part because "all the most prominent" reformist candidates were disqualified from running.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2012 Iranian legislative election</span>

    The parliamentary election for the 9th Islamic Consultative Assembly, or Majlis, were held in Iran on Friday, 2 March 2012 with a second round on 4 May 2012 in those 65 districts where no candidate received 25% or more of the votes cast. More than 5,000 candidates registered but more than a third were disqualified by the Guardian Council leaving about 3,400 candidates to run for the 290 seat representing the 31 provinces.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2016 Iranian legislative election</span> Parliamentary elections in Iran

    Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 26 February 2016 to elect members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly for all seats in the 10th parliament in the Islamic Republic era and the 34th since the Persian Constitutional Revolution. A second round was held on 29 April 2016 for some constituencies where candidates failed to obtain the required minimum 25 percent of votes cast. The elected MPs served from 28 May 2016 to 27 May 2020.

    The Council for Coordinating the Reforms Front or the Reformist Front Coordination Council is the umbrella organization, coalition and council of main political groups within the Iranian reform movement. Since 2015, it is overseen by the Reformists' Supreme Council for Policy-making.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Saeid Aboutaleb</span> Iranian filmmaker and politician

    Saeid Aboutaleb is an Iranian documentary filmmaker and conservative politician who served a member of the Parliament of Iran from 2004 to 2008 representing Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">2020 Iranian legislative election</span> Parliamentary elections in Iran

    Legislative elections were held in Iran on 21 February 2020, four years after the previous legislative election in 2016. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran, the second round, to elect eleven seats, was postponed until 11 September 2020.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Coalition of Eight Reformist Parties</span> Political party in Iran

    The Coalition of Eight Reformist Parties refers to the political alliance of eight reformist parties that endorsed a joint electoral list for 2020 Iranian legislative election in Tehran electoral district.

    <span class="mw-page-title-main">Reformists Coalition (2008)</span> Political party in Iran

    The Reformists Coalition was the main electoral alliance of the reformists for 2008 Iranian legislative election.

    References

    1. Abrahamian, Ervand (2008), A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge University Press, p. 193, ISBN   978-0-521-82139-1
    2. Ehteshami, Anoushiravan; Zweiri, Mahjoob (2007), Iran and the Rise of Its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution, I.B.Tauris, pp. 35–37, ISBN   0857713671
    3. Amir Arjomand, Saïd (2009). After Khomeini: Iran Under His Successors . Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN   9780199745760.
    4. 1 2 3 4 De Luce, Dan (1 March 2003), "Reformers under pressure in Iranian elections", The Guardian
    5. Keshavarzian, Arang (2009), "Regime Loyalty and Bāzārī Representation under the Islamic Republic of Iran: Dilemmas of the Society of Islamic Coalition", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 41 (2): 225–246, JSTOR   40206103
    6. 1 2 3 4 Samii, Bill (3 March 2003), "Iran Report", RFE/RL, vol. 6, no. 9
    7. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Samii, Bill (24 February 2003), "Iran Report", RFE/RL, vol. 6, no. 8
    8. Axworthy, Michael (2016), Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic, Oxford University Press, pp. 373–374, ISBN   9780190468965
    9. Fairbanks, Stephen C. (10 March 2003), "Iran Report", RFE/RL, vol. 6, no. 10
    10. 1 2 Fathi, Nazila (3 March 2003), "Hard-Liners Victorious in Tehran, Dealing Reformers a Blow", The New York Times
    11. "Elections in Iran: A weary country", The Economist, 6 March 2003
    12. 1 2 Fathi, Nazila (1 March 2003), "World Briefing, Middle East: Iran: Election Day Warning", The New York Times
    13. Fathi, Nazila (7 January 2003), "World Briefing, Middle East: Iran: Challenge To Hard-Liners", The New York Times
    14. 1 2 3 Muravchik, Joshua (2010), The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East, Encounter Books, p. 46, ISBN   9781594034022