Iranian parliamentary dissolution referendum, 1953

Iranian 1953 referendum
Dissolution or Continuation of the 17th National Consultative Assembly
Location Iran
Date 3 and 10 August 1953
Results
Votes %
Yes 2,043,389 99.94%
No 1,207 0.06%
Valid votes 2,044,596 100.00%
Invalid or blank votes 4 0.00%
Total votes 2,044,600 100.00%

A referendum on the dissolution of Parliament, the first referendum ever held in Iran, was held in August 1953. The dissolution was approved by more than 99% of voters.

Following the referendum, there were talks about another referendum to abolish the Pahlavi dynasty and make Iran a republic, however the government was overthrown by a coup d'état shortly after.[1][2]

Timeline

  • 12 July: PM Mohammad Mosaddegh openly announced his intention to hold the referendum,[3] asking people to either choose between his government or the 17th Parliament.[4]
  • 14 July: The decision to held the referendum was approved by the cabinet.[3]
  • 3 August: Referendum held in Tehran.[4]
  • 10 August: Referendum held in other cities.[4]
  • 13 August: The official results of the polls were declared by the interior ministry.[3]
  • 16 August: Mosaddegh officially announced the dissolution of the parliament.[5]
  • 19 August: The government was overthrown in a coup d'état.[3]

Campaign

Position Organization Ref
Yes
 Iran Party [2]
Iranian People Party [2]
Tudeh Party [2]
Pan-Iranist Party [2]
Nation Party [2]
Third Force [6]
Boycott
 Toilers Party[2]
Muslim Warriors [2]

Conduct

The balloting was not secret and there were two separate voting booths, i.e. the opponents of Mossadegh had to cast their vote in a separate tent.[7][1] Critics pointed that the referendum had ignored the democratic demand for secret ballots.[8]

Results

Choice Votes %
For2,043,38999.94
Against1,2070.06
Invalid/blank votes4–
Total2,044,600100
Source: Direct Demoracy

By city

City Yes No
Tehran[9]101,39667
Tabriz[10]41,5023
Isfahan[10]43,50511
Ahvaz[10]22,7712
Mashhad[10]26,5479

Reactions

Domestic

International

  •  United States: On 5 August 1953, the U.S. President Dwight Eisenhower, speaking to a gathering of state governors in Seattle, criticized Mosaddegh for the decision and specified, that it had been supported by the communist party. A editorial published by The New York Times on 4 August characterized the exercise as "More fantastic and farcical than any ever held under Hitler or Stalin", and an effort by Mosaddegh "to make himself unchallenged dictator of the country".[11]

References

  1. 1 2 Elton L. Daniel (2012). The History of Iran. ABC-CLIO. p. 154. ISBN 0313375097.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Siavush Randjbar-Daemi (2017). ""Down with the Monarchy": Iran's Republican Moment of August 1953". Iranian Studies. Routledge. 50 (2): 293–313. doi:10.1080/00210862.2016.1229120 – via Taylor and Francis Online (subscription required).
  3. 1 2 3 4 Rahnema, Ali (2014), Behind the 1953 Coup in Iran: Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers, and Spooks, Cambridge University Press, p. 287, ISBN 1107076064
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 Ebrahimi, Mansoureh (2016). "Dr. Mosaddeq's pre-emptive Measures". The British Role in Iranian Domestic Politics (1951-1953). SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace. 5. Springer. p. 95–97. ISBN 9783319310985.
  5. ↑ Bayandor, Darioush (2010). Iran and the CIA: The Fall of Mosaddeq Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-230-57927-9.
  6. ↑ Katouzian, Homa (2013). Iran: Politics, History and Literature. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 9780415636896.
  7. ↑ Majd, Mohammad Gholi (2000), Resistance to the Shah: Landowners and Ulama in Iran, University Press of Florida, pp. 260–261, ISBN 978-0813017310
  8. ↑ Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. 1. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. p. 243. ISBN 0815609078.
  9. ↑ Abrahamian, Ervand (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press. p. 274. ISBN 0-691-10134-5.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Mervyn Roberts (2012). "Analysis of Radio Propaganda in the 1953 Iran Coup". Iranian Studies. Routledge. 45 (6): 759–777. doi:10.1080/00210862.2012.726848 – via Taylor and Francis Online (subscription required).
  11. ↑ Bayandor, Darioush (2010). Iran and the CIA: The Fall of Mosaddeq Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-230-57927-9.
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