1960 Iranian general election

1960 Iranian legislative election

← 1956 30 July[1] / 3[2]–20 August 1960[3] 1961 →

All 200 seats to the National Consultative Assembly
  Majority party Minority party
 
Leader Manouchehr Eghbal Asadollah Alam
Party Party of Nationalists People's Party
Seats won 104 25≈50

  Third party Fourth party
 
Leader Mozzafar Baghai Allahyar Saleh
Party Toilers Party
Alliance National Front

National Consultative Assembly of Iran following the 1960 election
Composition of the Assembly following the election. Members not belonging to the Party of Nationalists or People's Party are shown in gray.

Prime Minister before election

Manouchehr Eghbal
Party of Nationalists

Elected Prime Minister

Jafar Sharif-Emami
Independent

Parliamentary elections were held in Iran between 30 July and 20 August 1960.

In order to demonstrate the appearance of a democratic free election, the Shah allowed candidates from the popular National Front to compete,[4] however it returned no seats for them.[5]

The announced result was a massive victory for the Prime Minister Eghbal's Party of Nationalists. The elections "were extensively and clumsily rigged" and the fraud "was exposed in the press, provoked public rancor and restlessness".[6]

Aside from the opposition figures, pseudo-opposition People's Party and a number of independents led by Ali Amini denounced the elections.[6] The results were annulled by the Shah, and fresh elections were held the following year.[1]

Results

Zonis (1971) and Mehrdad (1980)

Party Seats
Party of Nationalists 104
People's Party 50
Independents 3
Source: Zonis[7] and Mehrdad[8]

Chehabi (1990)

Party Seats
Party of Nationalists 104
People's Party 25
Source: Chehabi[6]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Azimi, Fakhreddin (December 13, 2011) [December 15, 1998]. "ELECTIONS i. UNDER THE QAJAR AND PAHLAVI MONARCHIES, 1906-79". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica. 4. Vol. VIII. New York City: Bibliotheca Persica Press. pp. 345–355. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
  2. ^ "Chronology June 16, 1960–September 15, 1960". Middle East Journal. 14 (4): 439. Autumn 1960. JSTOR 4323289.
  3. ^ Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001). "Iran". Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. Vol. I. p. 68. ISBN 0-19-924958-X.
  4. ^ Kristen Blake (2009). The U.S.-Soviet Confrontation in Iran, 1945-1962: A Case in the Annals of the Cold War. University Press of America. p. 143. ISBN 978-0761844921.
  5. ^ Donald Newton Wilber (2014). Iran, Past and Present: From Monarchy to Islamic Republic. Princeton University Press. p. 233. ISBN 978-1400857470.
  6. ^ a b c Houchang E. Chehabi (1990). Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B.Tauris. pp. 144–146. ISBN 1850431981. After many postponements, balloting finally began in the provinces on July 26, and by August 12, when the last results came in, the prime minister's Melliyun party had obtained 104 seats, and the "opposition" Mardom party won about 25. But two provincial towns had not voted: Kashan, where the IP's leader Allahyar Saleh was running, and Kerman, where Mozaffar Baqa'i was a candidate.
  7. ^ Zonis, Marvin (1971). Political Elite of Iran. Princeton University Press. p. 71. ISBN 9781400868803. For as the election campaigns wore on, the party candidates took their roles seriously and began unbridled attacks on their opposite numbers. When the election results were announced, then, they were greeted with an uproar of dismay. As if the heated campaign had not been held, the shah-sponsored Prime Minister Eghbal's Melliyun party won 104 seats in the Majles, The Mardom party led by Asadollah Alam captured fifty seats and the independents but three seats
  8. ^ Mehrdad, Hormoz (1980). Political orientations and the style of intergroup leadership interactions: the case of Iranian political parties (PhD thesis). Ohio State University. p. 278. S2CID 148645507. osu1487090992443849.