1943–44 Iranian legislative election

none Iranian legislative election, 1943–1944 Iran State flag of Iran (1933–1964).svg parliamentary no 1941 Iranian legislative election 1941 1947 Iranian legislative election 1947 All 136 seats to the National Consultative Assembly November 1943/February 1944 94px Sadegh Tabatabai National Union Party Tehran 30 98285c 90px Ziaeddin Tabatabai National Will Party Yazd 26 000000 94px Ali Dashti Justice Party Tehran 15 98289D Mehdi Farrokh Tribal unions Zabol 11 FFBF00 94px Soleiman Eskandari Tudeh Party Did not stand 8 850808 94px Mohammad Mosaddegh Mosaddegh took pride of being an Independent politician at the time and was not a member of Iran Party. However his views often coincided with the party which campaigned on his behalf. Iran Party Tehran 6 White 94px Mostafa Fateh Comrades Party Did not stand 2 FF0200 94px Ja'far Pishevari Azerbaijani Democratic Party Tabriz 1 CE1607 94px Qazi Muhammad Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan Did not stand 1 FAFA33 Prime Minister Ali Soheili Mohammad Sa'ed Parliament 1943.svg The elections for the 14th Parliament of Iran was held in November 1943–February 1944 and more than 800 candidates ran for 136 seats. Ervand Abrahamian wrote in 1982 that the elections were "the most prolonged, most competitive and most meaningful of all elections in modern Iran".Abrahamian 1982 186 Timeline Tehran 24 November 1943: Start of the electionfa:گاهنامه پنجاه سال شاهنشاهی پهلوی Chronology of the fifty-year Pahlavi Kingship http://fis-iran.org/en/content/chronology-fifty-year-pahlavi-kingship-0 1986 Soheil Press Paris 1 Persian263 27 November 1943: End of the election270 30 December 1943: Beginning of reading of votes271 10 February 1944: Declaration of 11 Members-elect of parliament from Tehran. The twelfth was postponed.275 Results The Tudeh Party put forward fifteen candidates, nine of whom won seats. The number of the total votes cast for the candidates of the party is estimated at 1.5 million, one-eight of the total votes cast. Out of the 41,000 total votes cast in Tehran, Mohammad Mossadegh finished first with some 15,000 votes.Ladjevardi 1985 159: The "official" slate was, in fact, elected: Taghi Fadakar finished first with 30,499 votes (twice the number of votes cast for Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the top candidate in the Tehran elections), Hesameddin Dowlatabadi was second with 29,740 votes and Heidar-Ali Emami third with 28,730. All Tudeh Party candidates were defeated in the constituency.Ladjevardi 1985 45: The total number of the votes cast for Tudeh candidates was estimated to be one-eight of the total votes cast, estimated at 1,500,000... In all, nine of the party's fifteen candidates were elected, although none were elected for the twelve seats for Tehran. Of the Central Council and Tudeh Party leaders who stood for election in Tehran, Dr. Morteza Yazdi received 4,719 votes, Ebrahim Mahzari 2,831, and Hossein Jahani 2,796 out of the 41,000 total votes cast. In Isfahan, official results showed that Taghi Fadakar became the first deputy with 30,499 votes, and Hessameddin Dowlatabadi and Heidar-Ali Emami were elected for the second and third seats with 29,740 and 28,730 votes respectively. The top two seats for Tabriz went to Kho'i and Pishevari (Soviet-supported) with 15,883 and 15,780 votes out of 47,780 respectively, but credentials of both were rejected later. The rest of the seven seats in the constituency went to Eskandari, Sadeqi, Seqat ol-Eslam, Ipakchiyan (Soviet-supported), Panahi, Mojtahedi and Sartippur.Atabaki 2000 73 +The parties that won seats were: Party Seats National Union Party 30 Abrahamian 1982 200: The National Union Caucus mustered at most thirty deputies. Fatherland Party 26 Abrahamian 1982 202: The Patriotic Caucus, on the other hand, included twenty-six deputies, many of whom represented constituencies in the British zone... The views of the fraksiun were publicized outside the Majles not only by the Fatherland party and its successor, the National Will party, but also by a number of newspapers... Justice Party 15 Abrahamian 1982 202: Heirs to the Justice fraksiun of the Thirteenth Majles, the fifteen members of the Independent Caucus changed their parliamentary label for two major reasons. Headed by Dashti... Outside the Majles, the Independent Caucus was helped by the Justice party and its impressive array of well-financed newspapers. Tudeh Party 9Including Jafar Pishevari, who was not a member but was closely associated with the party endorsed him. Pishevari did not take seat since his credentials were rejected. Iran Party 6Including Mohammad Mossadegh, who was not a member but was closely associated with the party endorsed him.Abrahamian 1982 202: Finally, the Individuals' Caucus was a loose coalition of some sixteen deputies who usually followed the lead of Mossadeq, especially on foreign and constitutional issues. Closest to Mossadeq were the five representatives of the Iran party and the two leaders of the Comrades party. The others were nonporty deputies elected mainly from the northern constituencies. Comrades Party 2 Composition According to Ervand Abrahamian, a summarized composition of the parliament that was shaped after at the election is as follows: center |300px Fraction Leader Line Seats % Percentage of seats National Unionists M. Tabatabaei Royalist,Abrahamian 1982 37: ...four main anti-royalist groups - Liberals, Patriots, Democrats, and Individuals - allying to initiate a collective offensive against the royalists in the National Abrahamian 1982 203 The routine opening of the Majles turned into a sharp attack on the shah. The Liberals, Patriots, Democrats, Independents, and Individuals, together with the Tudeh deputies, easily isolated the National Unionists, and promptly drafted a new oath of office that stressed the duty of each deputy to defend the constitutional rights of the Majles. Pro-AmericanAbrahamian 1982 202 On foreign issues, especially as the Cold War started, the Patriots and Democrats aligned with Britain, the Tudeh and Liberals with the Soviet Union, the Independents and National Unionists with United States, and the Individuals with none of the great powers. 3022.05 Patriots Z. Tabatabaei Anti-royalist, Pro-British 2619.11 Liberals Farmanfarma Anti-royalist, Pro-Soviet 20Abrahamian 1982 202: During the Fourteenth Majles, Umid functioned as the unofficial organ of the Liberal Caucus. Of the twenty deputies in the Caucus...14.70 Individuals MossadeghAnti-royalist, Neutralist1611.76 Independents Dashti Anti-royalist, Pro-American 1511.02 Democrats Farrokh Anti-royalist, Pro-British 11Abrahamian 1982 202: The Patriots worked closely with the eleven deputies of the Democratic Caucus. Known by their opponents as the "tribal group" (fraksiun-i 'ashayir), the Democrats were led by the two Bakhtiyari deputies...8.08 Tudeh Radmanesh Anti-royalist, Pro-SovietAbrahamian 1978 37, 43: The Tudeh and the Liberals, seeing Britain as the main enemy, intended to ally with the Soviet Union. The Patriots and the Democrats, fearing Russia as the chief threat, hoped to work closely with Britain. The Independents, distrusting both, planned to rely on the United States. The Individuals, on the other hand, proposed to save the country's independence through a policy of 'negative equilibrium'... Bayat took office in November with a slim majority formed of National Unionists and pro-British Democrats-Patriots. But he left office six months later having lost the votes of all Democrats-Patriots and of some dissident National Unionists, and instead having gained a significant minority composed of loyal National Unionists, neutralist Individuals, and pro-Soviet Tudeh-Liberal 8Abrahamian 1982 201: Of the eight representatives in the Tudeh Caucus, all came from the ranks of the young intelligentsia, although two were from aristocratic families.5.88 Vacant seats 10Abrahamian 1978 36: ...ten were inactive - five had their credentials rejected, two died early in the session, another two resigned, and the last was in a British prison for his German connections.7.35 Total 136 100.0 Based on the lines mentioned above for each parliamentary group, the absolute majority of members of parliament were against the royal family and Mohammad Reza Pahlavi: + ↓ 96 30 Anti-royalist Royalist A characterization of members of parliament based on the foreign policy outlook of their respective parliamentary groups: + ↓ 28 16 45 37 Pro-Soviet Neutralist Pro-American Pro-British A characterization of members of the parliament on political spectrum could be as follows: + ↓ 10 25 40 26 26 Left Centre-left Centerism Centre-right Right References Footnotes 30em Sources 30em yes Abrahamian Ervand Factionalism in Iran: political groups in the 14th Parliament (1944–46) Middle Eastern Studies 1978 14 1 22–55 10.1080/00263207808700364 4282680 Taylor & Francis Abrahamian Ervand 1982 Iran Between Two Revolutions 0-6911-0134-5 Princeton University Press https://archive.org/details/iranbetweentwore00abra_0 Labor Unions and Autocracy in Iran Ladjevardi Habib 1985 Syracuse University Press 978-0-8156-2343-4 https://archive.org/details/laborunionsautoc0000ladj Atabaki Touraj Azerbaijan: Ethnicity and the Struggle for Power in Iran 2000 I.B.Tauris 978-1-8606-4554-9 1944 Category:1944 elections in Asia Category:1944 in Iran Category:14th Iranian Majlis Category:Mohammad Mosaddegh