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2003 Tehran City Council election

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An election to the Islamic City Council of Tehran took place on 28 February 2003, along with the local elections nationwide.

2006 Islamic City Council of Tehran election
← 1999 28 February 2003 2006 →
15 City Council seats
8 seats needed for a majority
Turnout12%
Alliance Conservatives Reformists
Seats won
14 / 15
0 / 15
Seat change Increase 14 Decrease 15
Alliance Nationalist-Religious Freedom-Seekers
Coalition
Seats won
0 / 15
0 / 15
Chairman before election

Vacant

 Elected Chairman

Mehdi Chamran
Conservatives

The results showed a victory for the conservative Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, that gained 14 out of 15 seats, and a massive defeat for all of the Reformist groupings, as well as the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran and the Freedom Movement of Iran.

The election is seen as the first in a series of electoral victories for the conservatives, followed by the 2004 legislative election and the 2005 presidential election. Historian Ervand Abrahamian attributes the result to the conservatives retaining their 25% voter base, while "large numbers of women, college students, and other members of the salaried middle class stayed home".[1]

Voter turnout fell to 12% in this election.[2]

This election also marked rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to national prominence, because he was subsequently elected as the Mayor of Tehran and his profile was raised for his presidential campaign in 2005.[3]

Campaign

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Conservatives

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Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran
Mayoral nominee: Not declared
Campaign manager: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Listed candidates
1 Mehdi Chamran 2 Abbas Sheybani
3 Nader Shariatmadari 4 Hassan Bayadi
5 Hassan Ziari 6 Habib Kashani
7 Mahmoud Khosravi-Vafa 8 Hamzeh Shakib
9 Khosro Daneshjou 10 Masoud Zaribafan
11 Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani 12 Nasrin Soltankhah
13 Manzar Khayyer-Habibollahi 14 Mahnoush Motamedi-Azar
15 Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri-Tehrani

Most of the figures from the conservative camp sat out of the election and did not enroll as a candidate.[4]

The faction put forward one single list under the banner of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (ABII), an alliance between old guard conservatives and new forces within the faction.[5] The ABII billed themselves as technocrats with the expertise to run the city while key conservative parties and organizations kept a low-profile during the days leading to the election. No conservative party released candidate lists for the election.[6]

Islamic Coalition Party's leading member Hamidreza Taraghi told press: "Our campaign policy is not to publish any statements or posters... we do not wish to politicize the situation... we are trying not to support those individuals who have greater political inclination than professional expertise".[7]

Campaign manager of the ABII during the elections was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The campaign focused on calling for members of Basij and their families to vote for the group.[8] In one newspaper ad, many ABII members appeared clean-shaven like their reformist rivals, in order to display technological seriousness.[6]

Reformists

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Islamic Iran Participation Front
Mayoral nominee: Mohsen Safaei Farahani
Listed Candidates
1 Mostafa Tajzadeh 2 Alireza Rajaei
3 Hossein Zaman 4 Mojtaba Badi'i
5 Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer 6 Davoud Asgari
7 Ahmad Mousazadeh 8 Hamid Majedi
9 Majid Farahani 10 Nastaran Nassiri
11 Amir Mansouri 12 Majid Shafipour
13 Taghi Nourbakhsh 14 Mohammadreza Behzadian
15 Nahid Jalali
Source: ISNA
Executives of Construction Party
Mayoral nominee: Gholamhossein Karbaschi
Listed candidates (incomplete)
Gholamreza Ghobbeh Abolghassem Ashouri
Kamal Aziminia Mohsen Vaheb
Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaei Mohammadreza Behzadian
Rasoul Khadem Hengameh Shahidi
Ali-Asghar Negarandeh
Source: Jamejam Online, ISNA

The Reformists who supported the incumbent President Mohammad Khatami, entered the elections divided.[4] They had engaged an inter-factional rivalry, possibly out of overconfidence that they will win the election.[9] In January, disagreements were reported between 2nd of Khordad coalition members over compiling a shared list of candidates.[7]

Association of Combatant Clerics (ACC) declared that it would not issue a list for itself, but will endorse a list of candidates if all reformist parties and organizations reach an agreement.[7]

As the reformist parties were involved with infighting, student organizations and journalists who had played an important in mobilizing voters to support the reformists in previous elections were either silent or withdrew their support from the camp. The Office for Strengthening Unity (OSU) released a statement and declared that it is not supporting the reformists because they were not actually addressing people's concerns.[10]

Unified Front of 2nd of Khordad
Mayoral nominee: Not declared
Coalition members
Listed candidates
1 Ebrahim Asgharzadeh 2 Elaheh Rastgou
3 Ahmad Hakimipour 4 Rahmatollah Khosravi
5 Mohammad-Ali Rahmani 6 Fayyaz Zahed
7 Mohsen Sorkhou 8 Hassan Sadeghi
9 Latif Safari 10 Davoud Asgari
11 Mohsen Ghamsari 12 Morteza Lotfi
13 Hassan Mokhtari 14 Karim Malek-Asa
15 Mohammadreza Bahmaei
Source: ISNA, ISNA
List of Reformist Journalists
1 Mostafa Tajzadeh 2 Ebrahim Asgharzadeh
3 Ahmad Hakimipour 4 Ali-Asghar Negarandeh
5 Nikahang Kowsar 6 Morteza Lotfi
7 Hengameh Shahidi 8 Omid Memarian
9 Mohammadreza Karimi 10 Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
11 Saeed Razavi-Faqih 12 Latif Safari
13 Alireza Rajaei 14 Behrouz Behzadi
15 Fayyaz Zahedi
Source: ISNA

On 19 February 2003, Ali-Mohammad Gharbiani of election headquarters of the 2nd of Khordad coalition said that names of 33 candidates has been compiled for 15 spots on the final list. However, not every party agreed that all names should be on the list.[7]

Major disagreements were reported in media between the Executives of Construction Party (ECP) and the Islamic Iran Solidarity Party (IISP).[7] It was also reported that the latter had threatened that it would not be part of the coalition if its secretary-general Ebrahim Asgharzadeh is not included. Asgharzadeh had recently made negative remarks about Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), a leading party in the coalition, which led to resignation of some IISP members in protest.[7] On the other hand, Majid Farahani of the IIPF said his party will reconsider participation in the coalition if certain candidates are included in the list.[7]

Due to differences of opinion being continued between these parties, each of the ECP, the IIPF and the IISF released separate candidate lists.[6]

ECP campaign presented their candidates as "pragmatic "professionals" who can deliver better city services and end partisan bickering".[4]

According to The Economist, the "star candidate" of the reformist camp was Mostafa Tajzadeh[11] who belonged to the IIPF list. Analysts expected that the party would show poorly.[4]

Religious-Nationalists

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Friends of Bazargan, Taleghani, Sahabi
Leader: Ebrahim Yazdi
Listed Candidates
1 Abolfazl Bazargan 2 Mohammad Tavasoli
3 Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi 4 Gholam-Abbas Tavassoli
5 Hassan Farid-Alam 6 Khosrow Mansourian
7 Amir Khorram 8 Majid Hakimi
9 Tahereh Taleghani 10 Alireza Rajaei
11 Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar 12 Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
13 Saeed Razavi-Faqih 14 Leila Liaghat
Source: ISNA
Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists
Leader: Ezzatollah Sahabi
Listed Candidates
1 Mohammad Tavasoli 2 Mohammad-Hassan Shahidi
3 Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi 4 Abolfazl Bazargan
5 Hassan Farid-Alam 6 Mostafa Tajzadeh
7 Latif Safari 8 Khosrow Mansourian
9 Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar 10 Alireza Rajaei
11 Mojtaba Badi'i 12 Mostafa Izadi
13 Issa Saharkhiz 14 Ahmad Mousazadeh
Source: ISNA

Members of liberal opposition groups based inside Iran declared themselves candidates for the election. Due to the local elections being exempt from Guardian Council vetting process, the dissidents were allowing to run by the reformist-dominated election board in Tehran.[12][13]

Among the groups were the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) and the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists. The former issued a statement urging the voters to show up for the election, which said: "those not supporting the municipal elections are, in fact, against the council-oriented system of government and against democracy and the reform process".[6]

Since the 1980s, the faction was banned from running for elections and their freedom to run was harshly criticized by the conservatives. A court sent a letter to the election board, calling the groups and their qualification illegal.[10]

Society of Women of the Islamic Revolution
Leader: Azam Taleghani
Listed Candidates
1 Alireza Rajaei 2 Hossein Ahmadi
3 Mostafa Izadi 4 Mojtaba Badi'i
5 Mostafa Tajzadeh 6 Mohammad Tavasoli
7 Issa Saharkhiz 8 Mohammad-Hassan Shahidi
9 Tahereh Taleghani 10 Hassan Farid-Alam
11 Saeid Madani 12 Marzieh Mortazi-Langeroudi
13 Khosrow Mansourian 14 Hamid Nouhi
15 Zohreh Aghajari (withdrew)
Source: ISNA

Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, slammed "irregularities" in qualifying members of the groups and said the elections would be invalidated if they won.[12]

Campaign for Mohsen Sazegara

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See also: National Coalition of Freedom-Seekers

Mohsen Sazegara who had been disillusioned with the reformists and tried to run in the 2001 presidential election against the incumbent President Mohammad Khatami (being disqualified by the Guardian Council), was jailed at the time of the election and in protest conducted a hunger strike.[14] In the election, a list of fifteen liberals was announced by friends of Sazegara, led by one of his brothers, pledging to appoint Sazegara as the next mayor if they were elected. They printed big pictures of Sazegara and installed them on almost every major street in the city. Sazegara was soon released from imprisonment.[14]

American conservative analyst Joshua Muravchik attributes release of Sazegara to the campaign, which caused the authorities "fearing that this might attract a large protest vote".[14]

National Coalition of Freedom-Seekers
Mayoral nominee: Mohsen Sazegara
Listed candidates (incomplete)
Saeid Haghi Mehdi Sazegara
Mohsen Vaheb Gholamhossein Khorshidi
Alireza Rajaei
Source: ISNA

Results

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# Candidate Affiliation Votes %
↓ Sitting Members ↓
1 Mehdi Chamran Alliance of Builders 192,716 36.57
2 Abbas Sheybani Alliance of Builders 178,351 33.84
3 Nader Shariatmadari Alliance of Builders 104,147 19.76
4 Hassan Bayadi Alliance of Builders 103,150 19.57
5 Hassan Ziari Alliance of Builders 100,454 19.06
6 Habib Kashani Alliance of Builders 99,013 18.78
7 Mahmoud Khosravivafa Alliance of Builders 98,390 18.67
8 Hamzeh Shakib Alliance of Builders 98,313 18.65
9 Khosro Daneshjou Alliance of Builders 98,291 18.65
10 Masoud Zaribafan Alliance of Builders 95,971 18.21
11 Rasoul Khadem Independent 92,606 17.57
12 Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani Alliance of Builders 90,832 17.24
13 Nasrin Soltankhah Alliance of Builders 90,029 17.08
14 Manzar Khayyer-Habibollahi Alliance of Builders 87,690 16.64
15 Mahnoush Motamedi-Azar Alliance of Builders 85,839 16.29
↓ Alternate Members ↓
16 Mostafa Tajzadeh Reformist 66,196 12.56
17 Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri-Tehrani Alliance of Builders 54,616 10.36
18 Abolghassem Ashouri Reformist 51,492 9.77
19 Ebrahim Asgharzadeh Reformist 45,519 8.36
20 Mehdi Ghasemi-Kajani Independent 41,844 7.94
21 Alireza Rajaei Nationalist-Religious 36,078 6.84
↓ Defeated ↓
22 Gholamreza Ghobbeh Reformist 35,998 6.83
23 Abolfazl Bazargan Nationalist-Religious 34,642 6.57
24 Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer Reformist 32,867 6.24
25 Mohammadreza Behzadian Reformist 32,229 6.11
26 Ali Fathollahzadeh Independent 31,633 6.00
27 Latif Safari Reformist 29,960 5.68
28 Seyyed Mansour Razavi Reformist 28,588 5.42
29 Amir Abedini Independent 27,782 5.27
30 Gholam-Abbas Tavassoli Nationalist-Religious 26,226 4.98
31 Tahereh Taleghani Nationalist-Religious 23,597 4.48
32 Hamid Majedi Reformist 23,058 4.37
33 Hossein Zaman Reformist 22,156 4.20
34 Mohammad Tavasoli Nationalist-Religious 21,922 4.16
35 Mojtaba Badi'i Reformist 21,689 4.11
36 Mahmoud Alizadeh-Tabatabaei Reformist 20,981 3.98
37 Tahereh Taherian Independent 20,871 3.96
38 Mohammad-Hossein Doroudian Reformist 19,933 3.78
39 Kamal Aziminia Reformist 19,532 3.71
40 Saeed Razavi-Faqih Nationalist-Religious 19,149 3.63
41 Elaheh Rastgou Reformist 19,015 3.61
42 Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi Nationalist-Religious 18,781 3.56
43 Davoud Asgari Reformist 18,474 3.51
44 Ahmad Hakimipour Reformist 18,272 3.47
45 Ahmad Mousazadeh Reformist 17,645 3.35
46 Leila Liaghat Nationalist-Religious 16,926 3.21
47 Mostafa Izadi Nationalist-Religious 16,784 3.18
48 Hassan Farid-Alam Nationalist-Religious 16,620 3.15
49 Hengameh Shahidi Reformist 17,584 3.34
50 Morteza Lotfi Reformist 16,082 3.05
51 Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar Nationalist-Religious 15,943 3.03
53 Seyyed Amir Mansouri Reformist 15,809 3.00
53 Nahid Jalali Reformist 15,751 2.99
54 Majid Shafipour-Motlagh Reformist 15,438 2.93
55 Nastaran Nassiri Reformist 14,846 2.82
56 Omid Memarian Reformist 14,680 2.79
57 Mir Ali-Asghar Negarandeh Reformist 14,037 2.66
58 Majid Farahani Reformist 13,725 2.60
59 Hamzeh Karami Reformist 13,664 2.59
60 Mahmoud Amanpour-Gharaei Independent 13,257 2.52
61 Mohsen Saberi-Qomi Independent 12,735 2.42
62 Khosrow Mansourian Nationalist-Religious 12,719 2.41
63 Shahram Salmasi-Javid Independent 12,608 2.39
64 Seyyed Taghi Nourbakhsh Reformist 12,095 2.30
65 Mohammad-Mehdi Sazegara Reformist 10,590 2.01
66 Issa Saharkhiz Reformist 10,445 1.98
67 Mohsen Sorkhou Reformist 9,489 1.80
68 Amir Khorram Nationalist-Religious 9,239 1.75
69 Rahmatollah Khosravi Reformist 8,842 1.68
70 Majid Hakimi Nationalist-Religious 8,491 1.61
Invalid/blank votes 35,550 6.31
Total Votes 562,522 100

Source: Ettela'at International (1 Archived 2017-09-01 at the Wayback Machine 2)

References

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  1. ^ Abrahamian, Ervand (2008), A History of Modern Iran, Cambridge University Press, p. 193, ISBN 978-0-521-82139-1
  2. ^ Ehteshami, Anoushiravan; Zweiri, Mahjoob (2007), Iran and the Rise of Its Neoconservatives: The Politics of Tehran's Silent Revolution, I.B.Tauris, pp. 35–37, ISBN 0857713671
  3. ^ Amir Arjomand, Saïd (2009). After Khomeini: Iran Under His Successors. Oxford University Press. p. 150. ISBN 9780199745760.
  4. ^ a b c d De Luce, Dan (1 March 2003), "Reformers under pressure in Iranian elections", The Guardian
  5. ^ Keshavarzian, Arang (2009), "Regime Loyalty and Bāzārī Representation under the Islamic Republic of Iran: Dilemmas of the Society of Islamic Coalition", International Journal of Middle East Studies, 41 (2): 225–246, JSTOR 40206103
  6. ^ a b c d Samii, Bill (3 March 2003), "Iran Report", RFE/RL, vol. 6, no. 9
  7. ^ a b c d e f g Samii, Bill (24 February 2003), "Iran Report", RFE/RL, vol. 6, no. 8
  8. ^ Axworthy, Michael (2016), Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic, Oxford University Press, pp. 373–374, ISBN 9780190468965
  9. ^ Fairbanks, Stephen C. (10 March 2003), "Iran Report", RFE/RL, vol. 6, no. 10
  10. ^ a b Fathi, Nazila (3 March 2003), "Hard-Liners Victorious in Tehran, Dealing Reformers a Blow", The New York Times
  11. ^ "Elections in Iran: A weary country", The Economist, 6 March 2003
  12. ^ a b Fathi, Nazila (1 March 2003), "World Briefing, Middle East: Iran: Election Day Warning", The New York Times
  13. ^ Fathi, Nazila (7 January 2003), "World Briefing, Middle East: Iran: Challenge To Hard-Liners", The New York Times
  14. ^ a b c Muravchik, Joshua (2010), The Next Founders: Voices of Democracy in the Middle East, Encounter Books, p. 46, ISBN 9781594034022
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