2004 Iranian legislative election

none 2004 Iranian legislative election Iran parliamentary no 2000 Iranian parliamentary elections 2000 2008 Iranian legislative election 2008 All 290 seats to the Islamic Consultative Assembly 146 20 February and 7 May 2004 46,351,032 2004 Parliamentary Election The Iran Social Science Data Portal Princeton University http://www.princeton.edu/irandataportal/elections/parl/2004/ 10 August 2015 51.21% font-weight:normal;background:transparent;text-align:left; Parties CCA ISC SDIR Principlists 196 67.58% font-weight:normal;background:transparent;text-align:left; Parties ACC AFIL ECP IISP IAE IAW ILP WH Reformists 47 16.20% National Consultative Assembly of Iran following the 2004 elections 300px Composition of the Assembly following the election Speaker Mehdi Karroubi Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel Combatant Clerics Alliance of Builders Electoral list Alliance of Builders Coalition For Iran 008000 1C39BB 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 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 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 Council of Guardians vetting body, "shattered any pretense of Iranian democracy", according to some observers.Iran: an afternoon with a hostage-taker, Afshin Molavi https://web.archive.org/web/20090530094215/http://www.opendemocracy.net/democracy-irandemocracy/hostage_3009.jsp 2009-05-30 10-11-2005 The victims of the ban were reformists, particularly members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), and included several leaders. Prominent banned candidates included Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, Mohsen Mirdamadi, Mohammad-Reza Khatami and Jamileh Kadivar.Wright, Robin, Dreams and Shadows : the Future of the Middle East, Penguin Press, 2008, p.311 In many parts of Iran, 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, Jews, and Zoroastrians), the participating reformist parties could only introduce 191 candidates. Many pro-reform social and political figures, including Shirin Ebadi, asked people not to vote (although some reformist party leaders, such as those in the IIPF, specifically mentioned they would not be boycotting the elections). Some moderate reformists, however, including President Mohammad Khatami, 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, Islamic Iran Participation Front, Construction Executives, and Worker's House.Abrahamian, History of Modern Iran, (2008), p.193 The day before the election, the reformist newspapers Yas-e-no and Shargh were banned. Results Iranian legislative election, 2004 (Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr) Inter-Parliamentary Union 20 February and 7 May 2004 Majlis of Iran election results |- ! 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 | 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 (reserved seat) |2 || — ||2 || 0.68% |- | style="text-align:left;" |Assyrians (reserved seat) |1 || — ||1|| 0.34% |- | style="text-align:left;" |Jewish (reserved seat) |1 || — ||1|| 0.34% |- | style="text-align:left;" |Zoroastrian (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), Rulers (2nd round) |} CIA According to the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) analysis, conservatives won 190 seats, reformists won 50 and independents won 43.Cordesman, Anthony H. Kleiber, Martin Iran's Military Forces and Warfighting Capabilities: The Threat in the Northern Gulf 2007 Greenwood 978-0-313-34612-5 9 Kazemzadeh (2008) FactionSeatsBloc seatsRight-wing hardliners200240a Reformistsb40Independents40a Vacant seats10Total290Source: KazemzadehMasoud Kazemzadeh Intra-Elite Factionalism and the 2004 Majles Elections in Iran Middle Eastern Studies 2008 44 2 10.1080/00263200701874867 189–214 Taylor and Francis Online http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fmes20 subscriptiona All independents were allied with hardlinersa Reformist are from ACC faction only Analysis Political historian Ervand Abrahamian 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) 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 Tehran and its suburbs) References External links fa: آمار مقایسه‌ای نتایج انتخابات مجلس ششم و هفتم http://iranian.com/Political/2004/February/elections.pdf fa Ministry of Interior BBC In Depth on Iran elections crisis List of 191 reformist candidates (in Persian) Interparliamentary Union report of 2004 election results Category:2004 elections in Asia Legislative election Category:February 2004 in Iran Category:May 2004 in Iran Category:Islamic Consultative Assembly elections