Presidential elections were held for the first time in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

on 25 January 1980, one year after the

Iranian Revolution The Iranian Revolution ( fa, انقلاب ایران, Enqelâb-e Irân, ), also known as the Islamic Revolution ( fa, انقلاب اسلامی, Enqelâb-e Eslâmī), was a series of events that culminated in the overthrow of the Pahlavi dynas ...

when the

Council of the Islamic Revolution The Council of the Islamic Revolution ( fa, شورای انقلاب اسلامی, Šūrā-ye enqelāb-e eslāmī) was a group formed by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to manage the Iranian Revolution on 10 January 1979, shortly before he returned ...

was in power.

Abolhassan Banisadr Seyyed Abolhassan Banisadr ( fa, سید ابوالحسن بنی‌صدر; 22 March 1933 – 9 October 2021) was an Iranian politician, writer, and political dissident. He was the first president of Iran after the 1979 Iranian Revolution abolis ...

was elected president with 76% of the vote.

Candidates

The number of the candidates registered to run for the presidency was 124, but only 96 of them were allowed to run. There were only 8 candidates with ballot access and the rest of candidates were

write-in A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...

Candidates with ballot access

;Party nominees *

Hassan Habibi Hassan Ebrahim Habibi ( fa, حسن حبیبی; 29 January 1937 – 31 January 2013) was an Iranian politician, lawyer, scholar and the first first vice president from 1989 until 2001 under Presidents Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mohammad Khatam ...

(

Islamic Republican Party The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; fa, حزب جمهوری اسلامی, Ḥezb-e Jomhūrī-e Eslāmī, also translated Islamic Republic Party) formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini establish theocracy in Iran. ...

) *

Dariush Forouhar Dariush Forouhar ( fa, داریوش فروهر; 1928 – 21 November 1998) was an Iranian pan-Iranist politician and leader of Nation Party of Iran. Early life Forouhar was born in Isfahan. His father was a general in the Army who was arrested ...

( Nation Party) * Kazem Sami (

JAMA ''The Journal of the American Medical Association'' (''JAMA'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of biom ...

) ;Non-partisan candidates *

* Ahmad Madani ( National Front member) *

Sadeq Tabatabaei Sadeq Tabatabaei ( fa, صادق طباطبایی; 25 March 1943 – 21 February 2015) was an Iranian writer, journalist, TV host, university professor at the University of Tehran and politician who served as Deputy Prime Minister from 1979 to 1980 ...

( Freedom Movement member) *

Sadegh Ghotbzadeh Sadegh Ghotbzadeh ( fa, صادق قطب‌زاده, 24 February 1936 – 15 September 1982) was an Iranian politician who served as a close aide of Ayatollah Khomeini during his 1978 exile in France, and foreign minister (30 November 1979 – ...

( Freedom Movement member) *

Mohammad Mokri Mohammad Mokri (1921 – July 12, 2007) (محمد مکری) was an Iranian scholar (Kurdologist) and author born in Kermanshah. He wrote over 100 books and 700 articles during his lifetime. He worked very closely with the Prime Minister of Iran Mo ...

( National Front member)

Withdrew

* Hassan Ayat (Independent;

member), endorsed

Jalaleddin Farsi Jaleleddin Farsi ( fa, جلال‌الدین فارسی) is an Iranian former politician who served as a member of the parliament from 1984 to 1988. He was also elected to the 73-man Assembly of Experts for Constitution responsible for drafting t ...

(

nominee), ineligible to run for the office due to his Afghan origin *

Sadegh Khalkhali Mohammed Sadeq Givi Khalkhali (27 July 1926 – 26 November 2003) ( fa, صادق خلخالی) was an Iranian Shia cleric who is said to have "brought to his job as Chief Justice of the revolutionary courts a relish for summary execution" that ...

(Independent), endorsed

Massoud Rajavi Massoud Rajavi ( fa, مسعود رجوی, born 18 August 1948 – disappeared 13 March 2003) became the leader of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (MEK) in 1979. In 1985, he married Maryam Rajavi, who became the co-leader of the MEK. After leaving ...

(

People's Mujahedin of Iran The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...

nominee), forced to withdraw for opposing the Islamic Republic constitution

Declined to run

Ruhollah Khomeini Ruhollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Khomeini, Imam Khomeini ( , ; ; 17 May 1900 – 3 June 1989) was an Iranian political and religious leader who served as the first supreme leader of Iran from 1979 until his death in 1989. He was the founder of ...

, incumbent

Supreme Leader of Iran The Supreme Leader of Iran ( fa, رهبر ایران, rahbar-e irān) is the List of heads of state of Iran, head of state of the Iran, Islamic Republic of Iran. The Supreme Leader directs the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, executiv ...

Mohammad Beheshti Mohammad Hosseini Beheshti ( fa, سیّد محمد حسینی بهشتی; 24 October 1928 – 28 June 1981) was an Iranian jurist, philosopher, cleric and politician who was known as the second person in the political hierarchy of Iran after t ...

, incumbent

Chief Justice of Iran The Chief Justice of Iran is the head of the Judicial system of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Head of Judiciary) and is responsible for its administration and supervision. The head of the judiciary of Iran is required to be an "honorable man" acc ...

Mehdi Bazargan Mehdi Bazargan ( fa, مهدی بازرگان; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Ay ...

, former

Prime Minister of Iran The Prime Minister of Iran was a political post that had existed in Iran (Persia) during much of the 20th century. It began in 1906 during the Qajar dynasty and into the start of the Pahlavi dynasty in 1923 and into the 1979 Iranian Revolution ...

Endorsements

Election results

was elected as president.

Nationwide

Tehran

References

Presidential elections in Iran 1980 elections in Iran Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution

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