1979 Iranian Islamic Republic referendum

A referendum on creating an Islamic Republic was held in Iran on 30 and 31 March 1979. Ayatollah Khomeini did not allow an open referendum, insisting that the Iranian population had chosen an "Islamic Republic" already by demonstrating against the Shah. In response, 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.

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.

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 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 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".

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.