Iranian legislative election, 1980

Iranian legislative election, 1980

14 March 1980 9 May 1980

First party Second party Third party   Leader Mohammad Beheshti Party IRP IRP allies Independents Last election - Seats won 85 45 140

Prime Minister before election Mehdi Bazargan Freedom Movement of Iran Elected Prime Minister Mohammad-Ali Rajai Islamic Republican Party

Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 13 March 1980, with a second round on 9 May.^[1] They were the first elections to the Majlis since the overthrow of the Shah, and resulted in a victory for the Islamic Republican Party, which won 85 of the 270 seats, whilst its allies who a further 45.^[2] 137 of the elected MPs were clerics.^[3]

Electoral system

The constitution approved in a December 1979 referendum provided for a 270-seat Majlis, with five seats reserved for minority groups including Jews, Zorastrians, Armenians from the north and south of the country and one jointly elected by Assyrians and Chaldeans.^[4]

As there was no electoral law at the time of the elections, they were held in accordance with a proposal from the Ministry of the Interior and approved by the Council of the Revolution.^[4] However, the elections were postponed in 23 constituencies in Kurdistan and Balochistan.^[4]

Results

Party	Votes	%	Seats
Islamic Republican Party			85
Islamic Republican Party allies			45
Freedom Movement of Iran			0
Freedom Movement of Iran allies			0
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan			0
Independents			140
Invalid/blank votes		–	–
Total	10,874,470	100	270
Registered voters/turnout	21,749,000	50.00	–
Source: Nohlen et al

References

1. Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, p68 ISBN 0-19-924958-X
2. Nohlen et al, p74
3. James W Heslep The Decline of Clerics in the Iranian Majles
4. Iran IPU