2003 Tehran City Council election explained

Election Name:2006 Islamic City Council of Tehran election
Country:Iran
Type:parliamentary
Vote Type:Popular
Turnout:12%
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:Tehran City Council election, 1999
Previous Year:1999
Election Date:28 February 2003
Next Election:Tehran City Council election, 2006
Next Year:2006
Seats For Election:15 City Council seats
Majority Seats:8
Alliance1:Conservatives
Seat Change1: 14
Seat Change2: 15
Chairman
Before Election:Vacant
After Election:Mehdi Chamran
After Party:Conservatives

An election to the Islamic City Council of Tehran took place on 28 February 2003, along with the local elections nationwide.

The results showed a victory for the conservative Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, that gained 14 out of 15 seats, and a massive defeat for all of the Reformist groupings, as well as the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran and the Freedom Movement of Iran.

The election is seen as the first in a series of electoral victories for the conservatives, followed by the 2004 legislative election and the 2005 presidential election. Historian Ervand Abrahamian attributes the result to the conservatives retaining their 25% voter base, while "large numbers of women, college students, and other members of the salaried middle class stayed home".

Voter turnout fell to 12% in this election.

This election also marked rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to national prominence, because he was subsequently elected as the Mayor of Tehran and his profile was raised for his presidential campaign in 2005.[1]

Campaign

Conservatives

Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran
Mayoral nominee: Not declared
Campaign manager: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
Listed candidates
1style= Mehdi Chamran2style= Abbas Sheybani
3Nader Shariatmadari4Hassan Bayadi
5Hassan Ziari6Habib Kashani
7Mahmoud Khosravi-Vafa8Hamzeh Shakib
9Khosro Daneshjou10Masoud Zaribafan
11Amir Reza Vaezi-Ashtiani12Nasrin Soltankhah
13Manzar Khayyer-Habibollahi14Mahnoush Motamedi-Azar
15Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri-Tehrani
Most of the figures from the conservative camp sat out of the election and did not enroll as a candidate.

The faction put forward one single list under the banner of the Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (ABII), an alliance between old guard conservatives and new forces within the faction. The ABII billed themselves as technocrats with the expertise to run the city while key conservative parties and organizations kept a low-profile during the days leading to the election. No conservative party released candidate lists for the election.

Islamic Coalition Party's leading member Hamidreza Taraghi told press: "Our campaign policy is not to publish any statements or posters... we do not wish to politicize the situation... we are trying not to support those individuals who have greater political inclination than professional expertise".

Campaign manager of the ABII during the elections was Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The campaign focused on calling for members of Basij and their families to vote for the group. In one newspaper ad, many ABII members appeared clean-shaven like their reformist rivals, in order to display technological seriousness.

Reformists

Islamic Iran Participation Front
Mayoral nominee: Mohsen Safaei Farahani
Listed Candidates
1style= Mostafa Tajzadeh2style= Alireza Rajaei
3Hossein Zaman4Mojtaba Badi'i
5Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer 6Davoud Asgari
7Ahmad Mousazadeh 8Hamid Majedi
9Majid Farahani10Nastaran Nassiri
11Amir Mansouri 12Majid Shafipour
13Taghi Nourbakhsh 14Mohammadreza Behzadian
15Nahid Jalali
Source: ISNA
Executives of Construction Party
Mayoral nominee: Gholamhossein Karbaschi
Listed candidates (incomplete)
style= Gholamreza Ghobbeh style= Abolghassem Ashouri
Kamal Aziminia Mohsen Vaheb
Mahmoud Alizadeh-TabatabaeiMohammadreza Behzadian
Rasoul KhademHengameh Shahidi
Ali-Asghar Negarandeh
Source: Jamejam Online, ISNA
The Reformists who supported the incumbent President Mohammad Khatami, entered the elections divided. They had engaged an inter-factional rivalry, possibly out of overconfidence that they will win the election. In January, disagreements were reported between 2nd of Khordad coalition members over compiling a shared list of candidates.

Association of Combatant Clerics (ACC) declared that it would not issue a list for itself, but will endorse a list of candidates if all reformist parties and organizations reach an agreement.

As the reformist parties were involved with infighting, student organizations and journalists who had played an important in mobilizing voters to support the reformists in previous elections were either silent or withdrew their support from the camp. The Office for Strengthening Unity (OSU) released a statement and declared that it is not supporting the reformists because they were not actually addressing people's concerns.

Unified Front of 2nd of Khordad
Mayoral nominee: Not declared
Coalition members
    Listed candidates
    1style= Ebrahim Asgharzadeh2style= Elaheh Rastgou
    3Ahmad Hakimipour4Rahmatollah Khosravi
    5Mohammad-Ali Rahmani6Fayyaz Zahed
    7Mohsen Sorkhou8Hassan Sadeghi
    9Latif Safari10Davoud Asgari
    11Mohsen Ghamsari12Morteza Lotfi
    13Hassan Mokhtari14Karim Malek-Asa
    15Mohammadreza Bahmaei
    Source: ISNA, ISNA
    List of Reformist Journalists
    1style= Mostafa Tajzadeh2style= Ebrahim Asgharzadeh
    3Ahmad Hakimipour4Ali-Asghar Negarandeh
    5Nikahang Kowsar6Morteza Lotfi
    7Hengameh Shahidi8Omid Memarian
    9Mohammadreza Karimi10Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
    11Saeed Razavi-Faqih 12Latif Safari
    13Alireza Rajaei14Behrouz Behzadi
    15Fayyaz Zahedi
    Source: ISNA
    On 19 February 2003, Ali-Mohammad Gharbiani of election headquarters of the 2nd of Khordad coalition said that names of 33 candidates has been compiled for 15 spots on the final list. However, not every party agreed that all names should be on the list.

    Major disagreements were reported in media between the Executives of Construction Party (ECP) and the Islamic Iran Solidarity Party (IISP). It was also reported that the latter had threatened that it would not be part of the coalition if its secretary-general Ebrahim Asgharzadeh is not included. Asgharzadeh had recently made negative remarks about Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), a leading party in the coalition, which led to resignation of some IISP members in protest. On the other hand, Majid Farahani of the IIPF said his party will reconsider participation in the coalition if certain candidates are included in the list.

    Due to differences of opinion being continued between these parties, each of the ECP, the IIPF and the IISF released separate candidate lists.

    ECP campaign presented their candidates as "pragmatic "professionals" who can deliver better city services and end partisan bickering".

    According to The Economist, the "star candidate" of the reformist camp was Mostafa Tajzadeh who belonged to the IIPF list. Analysts expected that the party would show poorly.

    Religious-Nationalists

    Friends of Bazargan, Taleghani, Sahabi
    Leader: Ebrahim Yazdi
    Listed Candidates
    1style= Abolfazl Bazargan2style= Mohammad Tavasoli
    3Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi4Gholam-Abbas Tavassoli
    5Hassan Farid-Alam 6Khosrow Mansourian
    7Amir Khorram8Majid Hakimi
    9Tahereh Taleghani 10Alireza Rajaei
    11Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar 12Fariba Davoudi-Mohajer
    13Saeed Razavi-Faqih 14Leila Liaghat
    Source: ISNA
    Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists
    Leader: Ezzatollah Sahabi
    Listed Candidates
    1style= Mohammad Tavasoli2style= Mohammad-Hassan Shahidi
    3Mohammad-Hossein Baniasadi4Abolfazl Bazargan
    5Hassan Farid-Alam 6Mostafa Tajzadeh
    7Latif Safari8Khosrow Mansourian
    9Mohammad-Javad Mozaffar 10Alireza Rajaei
    11Mojtaba Badi'i 12Mostafa Izadi
    13Issa Saharkhiz14Ahmad Mousazadeh
    Source: ISNA
    Members of liberal opposition groups based inside Iran declared themselves candidates for the election. Due to the local elections being exempt from Guardian Council vetting process, the dissidents were allowing to run by the reformist-dominated election board in Tehran.

    Among the groups were the Freedom Movement of Iran (FMI) and the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists. The former issued a statement urging the voters to show up for the election, which said: "those not supporting the municipal elections are, in fact, against the council-oriented system of government and against democracy and the reform process".

    Since the 1980s, the faction was banned from running for elections and their freedom to run was harshly criticized by the conservatives. A court sent a letter to the election board, calling the groups and their qualification illegal.

    Society of Women of the Islamic Revolution
    Leader: Azam Taleghani
    Listed Candidates
    1style= Alireza Rajaei2style= Hossein Ahmadi
    3Mostafa Izadi4Mojtaba Badi'i
    5Mostafa Tajzadeh6Mohammad Tavasoli
    7Issa Saharkhiz8Mohammad-Hassan Shahidi
    9Tahereh Taleghani 10Hassan Farid-Alam
    11Saeid Madani12Marzieh Mortazi-Langeroudi
    13Khosrow Mansourian14Hamid Nouhi
    15Zohreh Aghajari (withdrew)
    Source: ISNA
    Ali Khamenei, Iran's Supreme Leader, slammed "irregularities" in qualifying members of the groups and said the elections would be invalidated if they won.

    Campaign for Mohsen Sazegara

    See also: National Coalition of Freedom-Seekers. Mohsen Sazegara who had been disillusioned with the reformists and tried to run in the 2001 presidential election against the incumbent President Mohammad Khatami (being disqualified by the Guardian Council), was jailed at the time of the election and in protest conducted a hunger strike. In the election, a list of fifteen liberals was announced by friends of Sazegara, led by one of his brothers, pledging to appoint Sazegara as the next mayor if they were elected. They printed big pictures of Sazegara and installed them on almost every major street in the city. Sazegara was soon released from imprisonment.

    American conservative analyst Joshua Muravchik attributes release of Sazegara to the campaign, which caused the authorities "fearing that this might attract a large protest vote".

    National Coalition of Freedom-Seekers
    Mayoral nominee: Mohsen Sazegara
    Listed candidates (incomplete)
    style= Saeid Haghistyle= Mehdi Sazegara
    Mohsen VahebGholamhossein Khorshidi
    Alireza Rajaei
    Source: ISNA

    Results

    CandidateAffiliationVotes%
    align=center colspan="7"↓ Sitting Members ↓
    1Alliance of Builders192,71636.57
    2Abbas SheybaniAlliance of Builders178,35133.84
    3Nader ShariatmadariAlliance of Builders104,14719.76
    4Hassan BayadiAlliance of Builders103,15019.57
    5Hassan ZiariAlliance of Builders100,45419.06
    6Habib KashaniAlliance of Builders99,01318.78
    7Mahmoud KhosravivafaAlliance of Builders98,39018.67
    8Hamzeh ShakibAlliance of Builders98,31318.65
    9Khosro DaneshjouAlliance of Builders98,29118.65
    10Masoud ZaribafanAlliance of Builders95,97118.21
    11Rasoul KhademIndependent92,60617.57
    12Amir Reza Vaezi-AshtianiAlliance of Builders90,83217.24
    13Nasrin SoltankhahAlliance of Builders90,029 17.08
    14Manzar Khayyer-HabibollahiAlliance of Builders87,69016.64
    15Mahnoush Motamedi-AzarAlliance of Builders85,83916.29
    align=center colspan="7"↓ Alternate Members ↓
    16Mostafa TajzadehReformist66,19612.56
    17Mohammad-Mehdi Mazaheri-TehraniAlliance of Builders54,61610.36
    18Abolghassem AshouriReformist51,4929.77
    19Ebrahim AsgharzadehReformist45,5198.36
    20Mehdi Ghasemi-KajaniIndependent41,8447.94
    21Alireza RajaeiNationalist-Religious36,0786.84
    align=center colspan="7"↓ Defeated ↓
    22Gholamreza GhobbehReformist35,9986.83
    23Abolfazl BazarganNationalist-Religious34,6426.57
    24Fariba Davoudi-MohajerReformist32,8676.24
    25Mohammadreza BehzadianReformist32,2296.11
    26Ali FathollahzadehIndependent31,633 6.00
    27Latif SafariReformist29,9605.68
    28Seyyed Mansour RazaviReformist28,5885.42
    29Amir AbediniIndependent27,7825.27
    30Gholam-Abbas TavassoliNationalist-Religious26,2264.98
    31Tahereh TaleghaniNationalist-Religious23,5974.48
    32Hamid MajediReformist23,0584.37
    33Hossein ZamanReformist22,1564.20
    34Mohammad TavasoliNationalist-Religious21,9224.16
    35Mojtaba Badi'iReformist21,6894.11
    36Mahmoud Alizadeh-TabatabaeiReformist20,9813.98
    37Tahereh TaherianIndependent20,8713.96
    38Mohammad-Hossein DoroudianReformist19,9333.78
    39Kamal AziminiaReformist19,5323.71
    40Saeed Razavi-FaqihNationalist-Religious19,1493.63
    41Elaheh RastgouReformist19,0153.61
    42Mohammad-Hossein BaniasadiNationalist-Religious18,7813.56
    43Davoud AsgariReformist18,4743.51
    44Ahmad HakimipourReformist18,2723.47
    45Ahmad MousazadehReformist17,6453.35
    46Leila LiaghatNationalist-Religious16,9263.21
    47Mostafa IzadiNationalist-Religious16,7843.18
    48Hassan Farid-AlamNationalist-Religious16,6203.15
    49Hengameh ShahidiReformist17,5843.34
    50Morteza LotfiReformist16,0823.05
    51Mohammad-Javad MozaffarNationalist-Religious15,9433.03
    53Seyyed Amir MansouriReformist15,8093.00
    53Nahid JalaliReformist15,7512.99
    54Majid Shafipour-MotlaghReformist15,4382.93
    55Nastaran NassiriReformist14,8462.82
    56Omid MemarianReformist14,6802.79
    57Mir Ali-Asghar NegarandehReformist14,0372.66
    58Majid FarahaniReformist13,7252.60
    59Hamzeh KaramiReformist13,6642.59
    60Mahmoud Amanpour-GharaeiIndependent13,2572.52
    61Mohsen Saberi-QomiIndependent12,7352.42
    62Khosrow MansourianNationalist-Religious12,7192.41
    63Shahram Salmasi-JavidIndependent12,6082.39
    64Seyyed Taghi NourbakhshReformist12,0952.30
    65Mohammad-Mehdi SazegaraReformist10,5902.01
    66Issa SaharkhizReformist10,4451.98
    67Mohsen SorkhouReformist9,4891.80
    68Amir KhorramNationalist-Religious9,2391.75
    69Rahmatollah KhosraviReformist8,8421.68
    70Majid HakimiNationalist-Religious8,4911.61
    Invalid/blank votes35,5506.31
    Total Votes562,522100
    Source: Ettela'at International (1 2)

    Notes and References

    1. Book: Amir Arjomand. Saïd. After Khomeini: Iran Under His Successors. 2009. limited. Oxford University Press. 2009 . 150. 9780199745760.

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