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1979 Iranian Islamic Republic referendum

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Field	Value
name	Islamic Republic referendum
title	In the Name of God
Interim Government of the Islamic Revolution
Ministry of Interior
Referendum Election Ballot
Change of previous regime into Islamic Republic
the constitution of which to be approved by the nation.
country	Iran
date	30—31 March 1979 / 10—11 Farvardin 1358 SH
image	{{multiple image
border	infobox
total_width	300
caption_align	center
align	center
direction	horizontal
image1	Paper of Iranian referendum 1979.jpg
width1	125
image2	Iranian referendum 1979.jpg
width2	160
caption	The two-parts ballot of referendum, with the green paper indicating "Yes" and red paper indicating "No"
yes	20,147,855
no	140,996
total	20,288,851
electorate	~22,000,000
turnoutpct	89
flag_image	Civil flag of Iran (1964–1980).svg

Interim Government of the Islamic Revolution Ministry of Interior Referendum Election Ballot Change of previous regime into Islamic Republic the constitution of which to be approved by the nation. A referendum on creating an Islamic Republic was held in Iran on 30 and 31 March 1979. Political parties such as the National Democratic Front and the Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas boycotted the referendum.

The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the Tudeh Party of Iran, the Freedom Movement of Iran, the National Front, and the Islamic People's Republican Party, also "objected to the imposition of Khomeini's choice". According to official results, it was approved by 98.2% of eligible citizens. However, votes were color-coded and voting booths were lacking, explaining the unusually high approval rate.

In order to include the Iranian youth who participated in the revolution, the voting age was lowered from 18 to 16.

Following this, the 1906 constitution was declared invalid and a new constitution for an Islamic state was created and ratified by another referendum in December 1979.

Party policies

Position	Organizations	Ref
Islamic Republican Party	last=Paydar	first=Parvin	title=Women and the Political Process in Twentieth-Century Iran	publisher=Cambridge University Press	page=226	year=1995	isbn=978-0-521-59572-8}}
National Front	last1=Baktiari	first1=Bahman	title=Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics	publisher=University Press of Florida	year=1996	page=55	isbn=978-0-8130-1461-6}}
Freedom Movement
Tudeh Party
People's Mojahedin Organization
Muslim People's Republic Party
Toilers Party
Iran Party
Pan-Iranist Party	title=بررسی فرایند برگزاری همه‌پرسی نظام جمهوری اسلامی در فروردین 1358	url=https://historydocuments.ir/?page=post&id=3723	website=historydocuments}}
Nation Party
		National Democratic Front
Organization of People's Fedai Guerrillas
	People's Fedai Guerrillas
Peykar
	Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan	last=Romano	first=David	title=The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity	url=https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00roma	url-access=limited	series=Cambridge Middle East studies, 22.	publisher=Cambridge University Press	year=2006	page=[236](https://archive.org/details/kurdishnationali00roma/page/n248)	isbn=978-0-521-85041-4	oclc=61425259}}
	Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan

Voting

Voters were given a three-part ballot, two of which containing the following statement: | |}}

The Interim Government of Iran invited a four-man delegation of international jurists from International Association of Democratic Lawyers to monitor the voting. According to The Washington Post, polling places lacked voting booths and the color-coded ballots could clearly be seen by observers, quoting head of the delegation "this is not the way we do things in the West, and it does not meet our criteria of democracy". Sadegh Zibakalam describes the referendum as "free and fair". Michael Axworthy states "there may have been some irregularities in the referendum, but most balanced observers then and since have accepted that whatever the conditions, a referendum at that time with that question would always have given a massive majority for the same result", that is the end of the monarchy.

A huge voter turnout was reported nationwide, except for Turkmen Sahra and Iranian Kurdistan, where the referendum was not held in full due to ongoing armed conflicts.

Results

Choice	Votes	%
For	20,147,855	99.3
Against	140,996	0.7
Valid Votes	20,288,851	100
Source: Nohlen et al

Choice	Votes
Number of Eligible Voters	20,857,391
Number of Actual Voters	20,440,108
Voter Turnout	98%
Source: Iran Social Science Data Portal

Results by province

Province	Votes	Proportion of votes	Yes	No
East Azerbaijan province	2,001,628	5,354	99.73%	0.27%
West Azerbaijan province	640,323	5,547	99.14%	0.86%
Isfahan province	1,357,605	4,470	99.67%	0.33%
Ilam province	161,942	16	99.99%	0.01%
Bakhtaran Province	612,830	6,159	99.00%	1.00%
Bushehr province	200,023	333	99.83%	0.17%
Tehran province	3,462,449	72,980	97.94%	2.06%
Chaharmahal and Bakhtiari province	210,936	885	99.58%	0.42%
Khorasan Province	1,983,458	6,712	99.66%	0.34%
Khuzestan province	1,248,591	8,557	99.32%	0.68%
Zanjan province	765,786	875	99.89%	0.11%
Semnan province	185,674	424	99.77%	0.23%
Sistan and Baluchestan province	314,319	1,052	99.67%	0.33%
Fars province	1,224,821	5,281	99.57%	0.43%
Kordestan Province	318,360	2,570	99.20%	0.80%
Kerman province	651,011	1,507	99.77%	0.23%
Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad province	159,463	254	99.84%	0.16%
Gilan province	810,708	7,539	99.08%	0.92%
Lorestan province	643,216	821	99.87%	0.13%
Mazandaran province	1,205,501	3,871	99.68%	0.32%
Markazi province	771,189	1,052	99.86%	0.14%
Hormozgan province	252,791	3,842	98.50%	1.50%
Hamedan Province	744,636	1,023	99.86%	0.14%
Yazd province	241,024	187	99.92%	0.08%
Abroad	118,069	12,444	90.47%	9.53%
20,286,353	153,755	99.25%	0.75%
Source: [Ministry of Interior](https://moi.ir/Files/MOI/Files/65/65529fe5-48a4-4c0c-8125-a46253ab4865.pdf)

References

(2015). "The Political Ideology of Ayatollah Khamenei: Out of the Mouth of the Supreme Leader of Iran". Routledge.
(2001). "Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook". Oxford University Press.
(2013). "Holy Wars (Routledge Revivals): The Rise of Islamic Fundamentalism". Routledge.
Chehabi, Houchang Esfandiar. (1986). "Modernist Shi'ism and Politics: The Liberation Movement of Iran". Yale University.
Ronald Koven. (2 April 1979). "Khomeini Decrees Islamic Republic After Vote in Iran". The Washington Post.
Paydar, Parvin. (1995). "Women and the Political Process in Twentieth-Century Iran". Cambridge University Press.
(1996). "Parliamentary Politics in Revolutionary Iran: The Institutionalization of Factional Politics". University Press of Florida.
"Political Parties: Selected Entries from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam". EWI Press.
"بررسی فرایند برگزاری همه‌پرسی نظام جمهوری اسلامی در فروردین 1358".
(2013). "Iran Under the Ayatollahs (Routledge Revivals)". Routledge.
(2000). "Rebels with a Cause: The Failure of the Left in Iran". I.B.Tauris.
Romano, David. (2006). "The Kurdish Nationalist Movement: Opportunity, Mobilization and Identity". Cambridge University Press.
Ronald Koven. (2 April 1979). "Khomeini Decrees Islamic Republic After Vote in Iran". The Washington Post.
Sadegh Zibakalam. (2014). "A Critical Introduction to Khomeini". [[Cambridge University Press]].
(2013). "Revolutionary Iran: A History of the Islamic Republic". [[Oxford University Press]].
(2 April 1979). "Landslide Victory for Khomeini Reported in Voting". The New York Times.
"Referenda". Princeton University.

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