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.

Background

The first round of the 2004 elections to the

Iranian Parliament The Islamic Consultative Assembly ( fa, مجلس شورای اسلامی, Majles-e Showrā-ye Eslāmī), also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles (Arabicised spelling Majlis) or ICA, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Pa ...

were held on February 20, 2004. Most of the 290 seats were decided at that time but a runoff was held 2½ months later on May 7, 2004, for the remaining thirty-nine seats where no candidate gained sufficient votes in the first round. In the

Tehran Tehran (; fa, تهران ) is the largest city in Tehran Province and the Capital city, capital of Iran. With a population of around 9 million in the city and around 16 million in the larger metropolitan area of Greater Tehran, Tehran is th ...

area, the runoff elections were postponed to be held with the Iranian presidential election of June 17, 2005. The elections took place amidst a serious political crisis following the January 2004 decision to ban about 2500 candidates — nearly half of the total — including 80 sitting Parliament deputies. This decision, by the

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

Council of Guardians vetting body, "shattered any pretense of Iranian democracy", according to some observers. The victims of the ban were reformists, particularly members of the

Islamic Iran Participation Front The Islamic Iran Participation Front ( fa, جبهه مشارکت ایران اسلامی; ''Jebheye Mosharekate Iran-e Eslaami'') was a reformist political party in Iran. It was sometimes described as the most dominant member within the 2nd of Khor ...

(IIPF), and included several leaders. Prominent banned candidates included Ebrahim Asgharzadeh,

Mohsen Mirdamadi Mohsen Mirdamadi ( fa, محسن میردامادی, born 1955 in Najafabad, Isfahan) is an Iranian academic and politician. He is the Deputy Secretary General of "Ettehad-e Mellat", the largest pro-reform political party in Iran. After the 2009 ...

, Mohammad-Reza Khatami and

Jamileh Kadivar Jamileh Kadivar ( fa, جمیله کدیور) is an Iranian politician and a former member of parliament. Biography Kadivar was born in Fasa, a town near Shiraz in southern Iran. She attended school in Shiraz until she was 16 years old, when she mo ...

. In many parts of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkm ...

, there weren't even enough independent candidates approved, so the reformists couldn't form an alliance with them. Out of a possible 285 seats (5 seats are reserved for religious minorities:

Christians Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""T ...

, and Zoroastrians), the participating reformist parties could only introduce 191 candidates. Many pro-reform social and political figures, including

Shirin Ebadi Shirin Ebadi ( fa, شيرين عبادى, Širin Ebādi; born 21 June 1947) is an Iranian political activist, lawyer, a former judge and human rights activist and founder of Defenders of Human Rights Center in Iran. On 10 October 2003, Ebadi wa ...

, asked people not to vote (although some reformist party leaders, such as those in the IIPF, specifically mentioned they would not be

boycott A boycott is an act of nonviolent, voluntary abstention from a product, person, organization, or country as an expression of protest. It is usually for moral, social, political, or environmental reasons. The purpose of a boycott is to inflict s ...

ing the elections). Some moderate reformists, however, including President

Mohammad Khatami Sayyid Mohammad Khatami ( fa, سید محمد خاتمی, ; born 14 October 1943) is an Iranian politician who served as the fifth president of Iran from 3 August 1997 to 3 August 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture from 1982 t ...

, urged citizens to vote in order to deny the conservative candidates an easy majority. Conservative political groups included the Militant Clergy Association and the Islamic Coalition Society. Liberal–reformist groups included the Militant Clerics Society,

, Construction Executives, and

Worker's House “Human is entitled to nothing but his own efforts”. , founded = , legalised = as political organization , headquarters = Tehran, Iran , wing1_title = Political branch , wing1 = Islamic Labour Party , wing2_title = Former political aff ...

.Abrahamian, ''History of Modern Iran'', (2008), p.193 The day before the election, the reformist newspapers ''

Yas-e-no ''Yas-e No'' ( fa, یاس نو, lit=New Yasmine) was a reformist newspaper in Iran, unofficially an outlet of the Islamic Iran Participation Front. The paper was in circulation between 2002 and 2009 with long interruptions. History and profile ' ...

'' and ''

Shargh ''Shargh'' ( fa, شرق, lit=East) is one of the most popular Reformist newspapers in Iran. History and profile ''Shargh'' was founded in 2003. The daily is managed by Mehdi Rahmanian. Its chief editor was Mohammad Ghouchani in its first period ...

'' were banned.

Results

;Inter-Parliamentary Union , - ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:left;" , Orientiation of candidates ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;", Seats (1st rd.) ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;", Seats (2nd rd.) ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;", Seats (Total) ! style="background-color:#E9E9E9;text-align:right;", % , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Conservatives Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

, 156 , , 40 , , 196 , , 67.58% , - , style="text-align:left;" , Reformists , 39 , , 8 , , 47 , , 16.20% , - , style="text-align:left;" , Independents , 31 , , 9 , , 40 , , 13.79% , - , style="text-align:left;" , ''Undecided'' , 59 , , 2 , , 2 , , 0.68% , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, '' hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

( reserved seat) , 2 , , — , , 2 , , 0.68% , - , style="text-align:left;" , Chaldean and Assyrian Catholic ( reserved seat) , 1 , , — , , 1, , 0.34% , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

( reserved seat) , 1 , , — , , 1, , 0.34% , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

( reserved seat) , 1 , , — , , 1, , 0.34% , - , style="text-align:left;background-color:#E9E9E9", Total (Decided seats) , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 231 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 59 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 288 , width="30" style="text-align:right;background-color:#E9E9E9", 99.31 , - , colspan=5, Source
IPU
(1st round)

(2nd round) ;CIA According to the

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian intelligence agency, foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gat ...

(CIA) analysis, conservatives won 190 seats, reformists won 50 and independents won 43. ; Kazemzadeh (2008)

Analysis

Political historian

Ervand Abrahamian Ervand Abrahamian; hy, Երուանդ Աբրահամեան (born 1940) is an Iranian-American historian of the Middle East. He is Distinguished Professor of History at Baruch College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York ...

credits the victory of Abadgaran and other conservatives in the 2004 elections (as well as the 2003 and 2005 elections) to the conservatives' retention of their core base of 25% of the voting population; their recruiting of war veteran candidates; their wooing of independents using the issue of national security; and most of all "because large numbers of women, college students, and other members of the salaried middle class" who make up the reformists' base of support "stayed home". Pro-reform voters were discouraged by division in the reform movement and by the disqualifying of reform candidates from running for office.Abrahamian, ''History of Modern Iran'', (2008), p.194

Official statistics (from the
Ministry of Interior An interior ministry (sometimes called a ministry of internal affairs or ministry of home affairs) is a government department that is responsible for internal affairs. Lists of current ministries of internal affairs Named "ministry" * Ministr ...
)

* Total candidates: 4679 * Decided in the first round: 225 of 289 seats * To be decided in the second round: 64 seats * Number of voting booths in the country: 39,885 * Number of staff: about 600,000 * Number of voters: 23,725,724 (1,971,748 in

and its suburbs)

References

External links