2000 Iranian legislative election

Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 18 February 2000, with a second round on 5 May.[2] The result was a solid victory for 2nd of Khordad Front and its allies, the reformist supporters of President Mohammad Khatami.

2000 Iranian legislative election

← 1996 18 February and 5 May 2000 2004 →

All 290 seats of Islamic Consultative Assembly
146 seats needed for a majority
Registered38,726,388[1]
Turnout69.27%
  First party Second party
 
Party
Parties
Alliance Reformists Principlists Nationalist–Religious
Seats won 195≈222 54≈74 2

Composition of the Assembly following the election

Speaker before election

Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri
Combatant Clergy

Elected Speaker

Mehdi Karroubi
Combatant Clerics

Campaign

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A total of 6,083 candidates contested the elections.[1] 225 of the 290 seats were won in the first round of voting.[1] Registration process took place between 11 and 16 December 1999.[3]

Main reformist coalition lists were "2nd of Khordad Press" and "Coalition of 15 Groups Supporting 2nd of Khordad" (including 11 out of 18 members in the 2nd of Khordad Front) and main principlist coalition was Coalition of Followers of the Line of Imam and Leader. Rest of lists were issued by solitary parties.[4] For the first time Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran issued an electoral list and was able to win two exclusive seats (Alireza Rajaei in Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr and Rahman Kargosha in Arak, Komijan and Khondab) but the Guardian Council declared their votes "voided".[5]

Results

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Inter-Parliamentary Union

Inter-Parliamentary Union report cites the following results:

Electoral list 1st round seats 2nd round seats Total seats won
2nd of Khordad Front 170 52 222
Front of Followers of the Line of the Imam and the Leader 45 9 54
Independents 10 4 14
Source: Inter-Parliamentary Union[1]
Samii (2000)
The data includes first round only.
Electoral list 1◦ round seats
Reformists 148
Conservatives 37
Independents 35
Religious minorities 5
Total 225
Source: A. W. Samii[6]
Bakhash (2001)
The data includes second round only.
Electoral list 2◦ round seats
Reformists 47
Conservatives 10
Independents 9
Total 66
Source: Bakhash[7]

Shaul Bakhash states that reformers had a comfortable majority, however estimates differed as to the size of this majority. He cites Behzad Nabavi's account (reformers 200 seats, the conservatives 58, and independents 18) as "inflated", but considers Payam-e Emruz report (which states that 150 MPs are committed to the "2nd of Khordad agenda") reliable. Bakhash additionally suggests that votes cast for the Speakers provide a better gauge of the distribution of forces, concluding that 50 to 60 deputies were affiliated with the Combatant Clergy Association, 150 with Islamic Iran Participation Front and 15 to the Executives of Construction.[7] The most detailed results, with data down to the province level, can be found on the "Iran Data Portal".[8]

Nohlen et al. (2001)
In the following table, the Independents are counted as "allies".
Party Seats +/–
Islamic Iran Participation Front and allies 216 New
Combatant Clergy Association and allies 74 –36
Total 290 +20
Source: Nohlen et al.[2]
Abrahamian (2008)

Ervand Abrahamian cites that reformist enjoyed a majority (69.25%), or 26.8 million, of the 38.7 million voters who cast ballots in the February 18, 2000 first round. Ultimately reformists won 195 of the 290 Majlis seats in that election.[9]

Kazemzadeh (2008)
Faction Seats Bloc seats
Right-wing hardliners 50 75a
Executives of Construction 60 215a
Reformists 130
Independents 50 a
Total 290
Source: Kazemzadeh[10]
a 25 Independents for each bloc

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d "Parliamentary Chamber: Majlis Shoraye Eslami; Elections held in 2000", Inter-Parliamentary Union, retrieved 29 July 2017
  2. ^ a b Nohlen, Dieter; Grotz, Florian; Hartmann, Christof (2001). "Iran". Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. Vol. I. Oxford University Press. pp. 68, 74. ISBN 978-0-19-924958-9.
  3. ^ Guy Engelman (2 February 2000), "A Background to Iran's Forthcoming Majlis Elections", The Washington Institute for Near East Policy (PolicyWatch), no. 436, retrieved 29 August 2017
  4. ^ Gholami, Fattah (23 February 2012). داستان انتخابات - ششمين دوره انتخابات مجلس شوراي اسلامياصلاح‌طلبان آمدند. Jamejam Online (in Persian). 100804970772. Archived from the original on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
  5. ^ Beheshti, Ebrahim (4 January 2016) [14 Dey 1394]. "گزارش "ایران" از صف‌آرایی گروه‌های سیاسی در ۹ دوره انتخابات مجلس". Iran (in Persian). No. 6116. 109221. Retrieved 30 March 2016.
  6. ^ A. W. Samii (March 2000), "Iran's 2000 Elections" (PDF), The Middle East Review of International Affairs, 4 (1), archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-07-30, retrieved 2017-07-30
  7. ^ a b Shaul Bakhash (2001), "Reformists, Conservatives and Iran's Parliamentary Elections", in Joseph A. Kechichian (ed.), Iran, Iraq, and the Arab Gulf States, New York: Palgrave=, pp. 23, 29, ISBN 978-0-312-29388-8
  8. ^ "Parliamentary Elections | Iran Data Portal".
  9. ^ Ervand Abrahamian (2008), "The Islamic Republic", A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge University Press, p. 188, ISBN 978-0-521-82139-1, In parliamentary elections in 2000, they won 80 percent of the vote and obtained 195 of the 290 Majles seats.
  10. ^ Masoud Kazemzadeh (2008), "Intra-Elite Factionalism and the 2004 Majles Elections in Iran", Middle Eastern Studies, 44 (2): 189–214, doi:10.1080/00263200701874867, S2CID 144111986 – via Taylor and Francis Online (subscription required)
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