1953_Iranian_parliamentary_dissolution_referendum

1953 Iranian parliamentary dissolution referendum

1953 Iranian parliamentary dissolution referendum

Add article description

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.

Quick Facts Results, Choice ...

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 hold the referendum was approved by the cabinet.[3]
  • 3 August: The referendum was held in Tehran.[4]
  • 10 August: The referendum was 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

More information Position, Organization ...

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

More information Choice, Votes ...

By city

More information City, Yes ...

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. An 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]
    Elton L. Daniel (2012). The History of Iran. ABC-CLIO. p. 154. ISBN 978-0313375095.
  2. [2]
    Siavush Randjbar-Daemi (2017). ""Down with the Monarchy": Iran's Republican Moment of August 1953". Iranian Studies. 50 (2): 293–313. doi:10.1080/00210862.2016.1229120. hdl:10023/13868.
  3. [3]
    Rahnema, Ali (2014), Behind the 1953 Coup in Iran: Thugs, Turncoats, Soldiers, and Spooks, Cambridge University Press, p. 287, ISBN 978-1107076068
  4. [4]
    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. Vol. 5. Springer. pp. 95–97. ISBN 9783319310985.
  5. [5]
    Bayandor, Darioush (2010). Iran and the CIA: The Fall of Mosaddeq Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 215. ISBN 978-0-230-57927-9.
  6. [6]
    Katouzian, Homa (2013). Iran: Politics, History and Literature. Routledge. p. 84. ISBN 9780415636896.
  7. [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. [8]
    Milani, Abbas (2008). Eminent Persians: The Men and Women who Made Modern Iran, 1941-1979. Vol. 1. Syracuse, N.Y.: Syracuse University Press. p. 243. ISBN 978-0815609070.
  9. [9]
    Abrahamian, Ervand (1982). Iran Between Two Revolutions. Princeton University Press. p. 274. ISBN 978-0-691-10134-7.
  10. [10]
    Mervyn Roberts (2012). "Analysis of Radio Propaganda in the 1953 Iran Coup". Iranian Studies. 45 (6): 759–777. doi:10.1080/00210862.2012.726848.
  11. [11]
    Bayandor, Darioush (2010). Iran and the CIA: The Fall of Mosaddeq Revisited. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 89. ISBN 978-0-230-57927-9.
Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article 1953_Iranian_parliamentary_dissolution_referendum, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.