| Election Name: | Iranian legislative election, 1943–1944 |
| Country: | Iran |
| Flag Image: | State flag of Iran (1933–1964).svg |
| Type: | parliamentary |
| Ongoing: | no |
| Previous Election: | 1941 Iranian legislative election |
| Previous Year: | 1941 |
| Next Election: | 1947 Iranian legislative election |
| Next Year: | 1947 |
| Seats For Election: | All 136 seats to the National Consultative Assembly |
| Election Date: | November 1943/February 1944 |
| Leader1: | Sadegh Tabatabai |
| Party1: | National Union Party |
| Leaders Seat1: | Tehran |
| Seats1: | 30 |
| Colour1: | 03A3F6 |
| Leader2: | Ziaeddin Tabatabai |
| Party2: | Fatherland Party |
| Leaders Seat2: | Yazd |
| Seats2: | 26 |
| Colour2: | 0B38A6 |
| Leader3: | Ali Dashti |
| Party3: | Justice Party |
| Leaders Seat3: | Tehran |
| Seats3: | 15 |
| Colour3: | 1154F9 |
| Leader4: | Soleiman Eskandari |
| Party4: | Tudeh Party |
| Leaders Seat4: | Did not stand |
| Seats4: | 9 |
| Colour4: | C30000 |
| Leader5: | Mohammad Mosaddegh |
| Party5: | Iran Party |
| Leaders Seat5: | Tehran |
| Seats5: | 6 |
| Leader6: | Mostafa Fateh |
| Party6: | Comrades Party |
| Leaders Seat6: | Did not stand |
| Seats6: | 2 |
| Colour6: | F60000 |
| Prime Minister | |
| Before Election: | Ali Soheili |
| After Election: | Mohammad Sa'ed |
The elections for the 14th Parliament of Iran was held in November 1943–February 1944 and more than 800 candidates ran for 136 seats.
Ervand Abrahamian wrote in 1982 that the elections were "the most prolonged, most competitive and most meaningful of all elections in modern Iran".
The Tudeh Party put forward fifteen candidates, nine of whom won seats. The number of the total votes cast for the candidates of the party is estimated at 1.5 million, one-eight of the total votes cast.
Out of the 41,000 total votes cast in Tehran, Mohammad Mossadegh finished first with some 15,000 votes.[2] All Tudeh Party candidates were defeated in the constituency.[3]
In Isfahan, official results showed that Taghi Fadakar became the first deputy with 30,499 votes, and Hessameddin Dowlatabadi and Heidar-Ali Emami were elected for the second and third seats with 29,740 and 28,730 votes respectively.[2]
The top two seats for Tabriz went to Kho'i and Pishevari (Soviet-supported) with 15,883 and 15,780 votes out of 47,780 respectively, but credentials of both were rejected later. The rest of the seven seats in the constituency went to Eskandari, Sadeqi, Seqat ol-Eslam, Ipakchiyan (Soviet-supported), Panahi, Mojtahedi and Sartippur.
The parties that won seats were:
| Party | Seats | Ref | |
|---|---|---|---|
| National Union Party | 30 | [4] | |
| style=text-align:right | Fatherland Party | 26 | [5] |
| style=text-align:right | Justice Party | 15 | [6] |
| style=text-align:right | Tudeh Party | 9 | |
| style=text-align:right | Iran Party | 6 | [7] |
| style=text-align:right | Comrades Party | 2 |
According to Ervand Abrahamian, a summarized composition of the parliament that was shaped after at the election is as follows:
| Fraction | Leader | Line | Seats | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National Unionists | M. Tabatabaei | Royalist[8] | 30 | 22.05 | ||||||||||
| Patriots | Z. Tabatabaei | Anti-royalist, Pro-British | 26 | 19.11 | ||||||||||
| Liberals | Farmanfarma | Anti-royalist, Pro-Soviet | 20[9] | 14.70 | ||||||||||
| Individuals | Mossadegh | Anti-royalist, Neutralist | 16 | 11.76 | ||||||||||
| Independents | Dashti | Pro-American | 15 | 11.02 | ||||||||||
| Democrats | Farrokh | Anti-royalist, Pro-British | 11[10] | 8.08 | ||||||||||
| Tudeh | Radmanesh | Pro-Soviet[11] | 8[12] | 5.88 | ||||||||||
| Vacant seats | 10[13] | 7.35 | ||||||||||||
| Total | 136 | 100.0 | ||||||||||||
| 73 | 23 | 30 | |
| Anti-royalist | Non-intrinsic | Royalist |
| 28 | 46 | 15 | 37 | |
| Pro-Soviet | Non-intrinsic | Pro-American | Pro-British |
| 10 | 25 | 40 | 26 | 26 | |
| Left | Centre-left | Centerism | Centre-right | Right |
The "official" slate was, in fact, elected: Taghi Fadakar finished first with 30,499 votes (twice the number of votes cast for Dr. Mohammad Mossadegh, the top candidate in the Tehran elections), Hesameddin Dowlatabadi was second with 29,740 votes and Heidar-Ali Emami third with 28,730.
The total number of the votes cast for Tudeh candidates was estimated to be one-eight of the total votes cast, estimated at 1,500,000... In all, nine of the party's fifteen candidates were elected, although none were elected for the twelve seats for Tehran. Of the Central Council and Tudeh Party leaders who stood for election in Tehran, Dr. Morteza Yazdi received 4,719 votes, Ebrahim Mahzari 2,831, and Hossein Jahani 2,796 out of the 41,000 total votes cast.
The National Union Caucus mustered at most thirty deputies.
The Patriotic Caucus, on the other hand, included twenty-six deputies, many of whom represented constituencies in the British zone... The views of the fraksiun were publicized outside the Majles not only by the Fatherland party and its successor, the National Will party, but also by a number of newspapers...
Heirs to the Justice fraksiun of the Thirteenth Majles, the fifteen members of the Independent Caucus changed their parliamentary label for two major reasons. Headed by Dashti... Outside the Majles, the Independent Caucus was helped by the Justice party and its impressive array of well-financed newspapers.
Finally, the Individuals' Caucus was a loose coalition of some sixteen deputies who usually followed the lead of Mossadeq, especially on foreign and constitutional issues. Closest to Mossadeq were the five representatives of the Iran party and the two leaders of the Comrades party. The others were nonporty deputies elected mainly from the northern constituencies.
...four main anti-royalist groups - Liberals, Patriots, Democrats, and Individuals - allying to initiate a collective offensive against the royalists in the National Union Faction
During the Fourteenth Majles, Umid functioned as the unofficial organ of the Liberal Caucus. Of the twenty deputies in the Caucus...
The Patriots worked closely with the eleven deputies of the Democratic Caucus. Known by their opponents as the "tribal group" (fraksiun-i 'ashayir), the Democrats were led by the two Bakhtiyari deputies...
The Tudeh and the Liberals, seeing Britain as the main enemy, intended to ally with the Soviet Union. The Patriots and the Democrats, fearing Russia as the chief threat, hoped to work closely with Britain. The Independents, distrusting both, planned to rely on the United States. The Individuals, on the other hand, proposed to save the country's independence through a policy of 'negative equilibrium'... Bayat took office in November with a slim majority formed of National Unionists and pro-British Democrats-Patriots. But he left office six months later having lost the votes of all Democrats-Patriots and of some dissident National Unionists, and instead having gained a significant minority composed of loyal National Unionists, neutralist Individuals, and pro-Soviet Tudeh-Liberal
Of the eight representatives in the Tudeh Caucus, all came from the ranks of the young intelligentsia, although two were from aristocratic families.
...ten were inactive - five had their credentials rejected, two died early in the session, another two resigned, and the last was in a British prison for his German connections.