A referendum on creating an

Islamic Republic The term Islamic republic has been used in different ways. Some Muslim religious leaders have used it as the name for a theoretical form of Islamic theocratic government enforcing sharia, or laws compatible with sharia. The term has also been u ...

was held 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 30 and 31 March 1979. Although some groups objected to the wording and choice and boycotted the referendum, it was approved by 98.2% of eligible citizens, according to official results. No group campaigned for a no vote in the referendum. In order to include the Iranian youth who participated in the revolution, the

voting age A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain before they become eligible to vote in a public election. The most common voting age is 18 years; however, voting ages as low as 16 and as high as 25 currently exist ( ...

was lowered from 18 to 16. Following this victory, 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

Alternative wordings proposed

When the authorities were preparing to prescribe a name for future political system, the parties called for a referendum open to give third choices, other than monarchy and

. Some of the names suggested were: * "Islamic Republic of Iran", by

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. ...

* "People's Republic of Iran", by leftists * "Democratic Republic of Iran", by leftists * "Democratic Islamic Republic of Iran", by

Freedom Movement of Iran The Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) or Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI; fa, نهضت آزادی ايران, Nahżat-e āzādi-e Irān) is an Iranian pro- democracy political organization founded in 1961, by members describing themselves as "Musli ...

* "Republic of Iran", by secular

nationalists Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: The ...

Voting

Iranian Islamic Republic referendum, March 1979

The

Interim Government of Iran The Interim Government of Iran ( fa, دولت موقت ايران, Dowlat-e Movaqat-e Irân) was the first government established in Iran after the Iranian Revolution. The regime was headed by Mehdi Bazargan, one of the members of the Freed ...

invited a four-man delegation of international jurists from International Association of Democratic Lawyers to

monitor Monitor or monitor may refer to: Places * Monitor, Alberta * Monitor, Indiana, town in the United States * Monitor, Kentucky * Monitor, Oregon, unincorporated community in the United States * Monitor, Washington * Monitor, Logan County, West ...

the voting. According to ''

The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large n ...

'', polling places lacked

voting booth A voting booth or polling booth (in British English) is a room or cabin in a polling station where voters are able to cast their vote in private to protect the secrecy of the ballot. Commonly the entrance to the voting booth is a retractable ...

s and the colored 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 Sadegh Zibakalam Mofrad ( fa, صادق زیباکلام, lit=honest eloquent-speaker; born 12 June 1948) is an Iranian academic, author and pundit described as reformist and neo-liberal. Zibakalam is a professor at University of Tehran and appear ...

describes the referendum as "free and fair".

Michael Axworthy Michael George Andrew Axworthy (26 September 1962 – 16 March 2019) was a British academic, author, and commentator. He was the head of the Iran section at the British Foreign & Commonwealth Office between 1998 and 2000. Personal life and fam ...

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". A huge voter turnout was reported nationwide, except for Turkmen Sahra and

Iranian Kurdistan Iranian Kurdistan or Eastern Kurdistan ( ku, ڕۆژھەڵاتی کوردستان, translit=Rojhilatê Kurdistanê) is an unofficial name for the parts of northwestern Iran with either a majority or sizable population of Kurds. Geographically, it ...

, where the referendum was not held in full due to ongoing armed conflicts.

Results

Results by province

References

External links

Sadeq Tabatabaei shows voters how to cast their ballot in Islamic Republic referendum
{{Ruhollah Khomeini 1979 03 History of the Islamic Republic of Iran

1979 in Iran Aftermath of the Iranian Revolution

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

March 1979 events in Asia Ruhollah Khomeini Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran