Iranian constitutional referendum, 1989

Last updated
Constitution amendment referendum
Do you approve the amendments to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran?
Location Iran
Date July 28, 1989 (1989-07-28)
Results
Votes %
Yes check.svgYes16,025,45997.57%
X mark.svgNo 398,8672.43%
Valid votes 16,424,32699.80%
Invalid or blank votes 32,4450.2%
Total votes16,456,771100.00%
Registered voters/turnout 30,139,598 [1] 54.51 [1] %

A constitutional referendum was held in Iran on 28 July 1989, alongside presidential elections. Approved by 97.6% of voters, [2] It was the first and so far only time the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been amended. It made several changes to articles 5, 107, 109, 111, and added article 176. It eliminated the need for the Supreme Leader (rahbar) of the country to be a marja or chosen by popular acclaim, [3] it eliminated the post of prime minister, and it created a Supreme National Security Council.

Iran Country in Western Asia

Iran, also called Persia, and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in Western Asia. With over 81 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 18th most populous country. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), it is the second largest country in the Middle East and the 17th largest in the world. Iran is bordered to the northwest by Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, to the north by the Caspian Sea, to the northeast by Turkmenistan, to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. The country's central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, give it geostrategic importance. Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center.

Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran National constitutional law

The Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran was adopted by referendum on 2 and 3 December 1979, and went into force replacing the Constitution of 1906. It was amended on 28 July 1989. The constitution has been called a "hybrid" of "theocratic and democratic elements". While articles One and Two vest sovereignty in God, article six "mandates popular elections for the presidency and the Majlis, or parliament." However main democratic procedures and rights are subordinate to the Guardian Council and the Supreme Leader, whose powers are spelled out in Chapter Eight.

Contents

Background

On 24 April 1989 while on his deathbed, Ayatollah Khomeini appointed a 25-man "Council for the Revision of the Constitution" (Persian : شورای بازنگری قانون اساسی, translit.  Šurā-ye bāznegari-e qānun-e asāsi). The council named Ali Khamenei as Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader of Iran and drew up several amendments to the original constitution. Since the senior mujtahid or Marja of Iran had given only lukewarm support to Khomeini's principle of rule by Islamic jurist, and Khamenei was not a marja, the original prerequisite that the rahbar (leader) be "a paramount faqih" (i.e. one of these marja) was dropped from the constitution. [4]

Ruhollah Khomeini 20th-century Iranian religious leader and politician

Sayyid Ruhollah Mūsavi Khomeini, known in the Western world as Ayatollah Khomeini, was an Iranian politician and marja. He was the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the leader of the 1979 Iranian Revolution that saw the overthrow of the last Shah of Iran, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, and the end of 2,500 years of Persian monarchy. Following the revolution, Khomeini became the country's Supreme Leader, a position created in the constitution of the Islamic Republic as the highest-ranking political and religious authority of the nation, which he held until his death. He was succeeded by Ali Khamenei on 4 June 1989.

Persian language Western Iranian language

Persian, also known by its endonym Farsi, is one of the Western Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, and Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and some other regions which historically were Persianate societies and considered part of Greater Iran. It is written right to left in the Persian alphabet, a modified variant of the Arabic script.

Romanization of Persian or Latinization of Persian is the representation of the Persian language with the Latin script. Several different romanization schemes exist, each with its own set of rules driven by its own set of ideological goals.

Some changes to the constitution introduced by the Reform Council include:

Majlis is an Arabic term meaning "a place of sitting", used in the context of "council", to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups be it administrative, social or religious in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to Islamic countries. It shares its root with the verb meaning 'to sit,' جلس julush. The Majlis can refer to a legislature as well and is used in the name of legislative councils or assemblies in some of the states where Islamic culture dominates. The term Majlis is used to refer to a private place where guests are received and entertained.

Assembly of Experts

The Assembly of Experts —also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts— is the deliberative body empowered to designate and dismiss the Supreme Leader of Iran. However all directly-elected members after the vetting process by the Guardian Council still have to be approved by the Supreme Leader of Iran before gaining membership to the Assembly of Experts.

The amendments were approved by Iranian voters and became law on 28 July 1989. [5]

Members of the council

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This article is part of a series on the
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Government of Islamic Republic of Iran

This is a list of members of Constitutional Amendment Council of Iran, appointed by Ayatollah Khomeini, who reviewed and amended the Constitution of Iran in 1989:

Ebrahim Amini Iranian ayatollah

Ebrahim Amini is an Iranian politician in the Assembly of Experts. He is also a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, and has been identified as a possible candidate to become the next Iranian Supreme Leader.

Hassan Habibi Iranian politician

Hassan Ebrahim Habibi was an Iranian politician, lawyer, scholar and the first vice president from 1989 until 2001 under Presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatami. He was also a member of the High Council of Cultural Revolution and head of Academy of Persian Language and Literature from 2004 until his death in 2013.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Iranian politician, Shia cleric and Writer

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was an influential Iranian politician, writer and one of the founding fathers of the Islamic Republic who was the fourth President of Iran from 3 August 1989 until 3 August 1997. He was the head of the Assembly of Experts from 2007 until 2011, when he decided not to nominate himself for the post. He was also the chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council.

Results

ChoiceVotes%
For16,025,45997.6
Against398,8672.4
Invalid/blank votes32,445
Total16,456,771100
Source: Nohlen et al. [2]

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The Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist, also called the Governance of the Jurist, is a post-Occultation theory in Shia Islam which holds that Islam gives a faqīh custodianship over people. Ulama supporting the theory disagree over how encompassing custodianship should be. One interpretation – Limited Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist – holds that guardianship should be limited to non-litigious matters including religious endowments (Waqf) judicial matters and the property for which no specific person is responsible. Another – Absolute Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist – maintains that Guardianship should include all issues for which ruler in the absence of Imams have responsibility, including governance of the country. The idea of guardianship as rule was advanced by the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in a series of lectures in 1970 and now forms the basis of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The constitution of Iran calls for a faqih, or Vali-ye faqih, to serve as the Supreme Leader of the government. In the context of Iran, Guardianship of the Islamic Jurist is often referred to as "rule by the jurisprudent", or "rule of the Islamic jurist".

Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom

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Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani Iranian grand ayatollah

Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Golpaygani was an Iranian Shia Islam cleric and marja. He was born in Gogad village, near the city of Golpaygan, Iran. He was taught preliminary studies by his father, Mohammad Bagher. At the age of 9, his father died, and he moved to Golpaygan to continue his studies. At the age of 20, he moved to Arak to study under Abdul-Karim Ha'eri Yazdi. After Ha'eri Yazdi and Ayatollah Mohammad Taghi Khansari founded the hawza of Qom, he moved there and delivered lectures in the Islamic Seminary. He was one of the highest-ranking Islamic clergy to participate in the Islamic Revolution of 1979, and a one-time serious contender to succeed Ruhollah Khomeini as the Supreme Leader of Iran in 1989. However, his candidacy was voted down by the Assembly of Experts, in favor of the eventual successor and current leader, Ali Khamenei.

Hassan Khomeini Iranian cleric

Sayyid Hassan Khomeini is an Iranian cleric. He has been called "the most prominent" grandchild of Ruhollah Khomeini, who had 15 grandchildren in total and the one "who many think could have a promising political future".

Prime ministership of Mir-Hossein Mousavi were the third and fourth government of Iran after the Iranian Revolution. At that time, Ali Khamenei was the president.

Government of Mir-Hossein Mousavi (1985–89)

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Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution

The Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution is a conservative-dominated body based in Qom, was set up at the time of Ayatollah Khomeini. Its decisions can only be overruled by Iran's Supreme Leader. Most of its members were appointed by Ali Khamenei, Khomeini's successor.
The President of Iran is ex officio the chairman of the Council.

Supreme Leader of Iran Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

The Supreme Leader of Iran, also referred to as Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, but officially called the Supreme Leadership Authority, is the head of state as well as the ultimate political and religious authority of the Islamic Republic of Iran. The armed forces, judiciary, state television, and other key government organizations are subject to the Supreme Leader. The current longtime officeholder, Ali Khamenei, has been issuing decrees and making the final decisions on economy, environment, foreign policy, education, national planning, and everything else in Iran. Khamenei also makes the final decisions on the amount of transparency in elections, and has dismissed and reinstated presidential cabinet appointees. The Supreme Leader directly chooses the ministers of Defense, Intelligence and Foreign Affairs, as well as certain other ministers, such as the Science Minister. Iran's regional policy is directly controlled by the office of the Supreme Leader with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' task limited to protocol and ceremonial occasions. All of Iran's ambassadors to Arab countries, for example, are chosen by the Quds Corps, which directly report to the Supreme Leader.

Events from the year 1989 in Iran.

Events from the year 1983 in Iran.

References

  1. 1 2 "Referenda", The Iran Social Science Data Portal, Princeton University, retrieved 10 August 2015
  2. 1 2 Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001). "Iran". Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. I. Oxford University Press. p. 72. ISBN   0-19-924958-X.
  3. Moin, Baqer, Khomeini, (2001), p.293
  4. Abrahamian, History of Modern Iran, (2008), p.182
  5. Iran - Constitution