Constitutional referendum in Iran in December 1979

Shariatmadari (left) and Khomeini (right)

The constitutional referendum in Iran in December 1979 was a referendum on 2/3. December 1979 on the new constitution of Iran adopted by the assembly of experts .

prehistory

The expert assembly worked from August 19, 1979 to September 12, 1979 on a new constitution. On November 15, 1979, the assembly voted on the draft constitution by Ruhollah Khomeini and adopted it by a majority. The referendum was supposed to confirm the constitution by the people. Grand Ayatollah Kasem Shariatmadari rejected the draft constitution of the assembly of experts and pronounced an election boycott.

Result and consequences

	be right	%
Yes	15,680,329	99.5
No	78,516	0.5
invalid	111	0.00
total	15,758,956	100%

The referendum went

“Without serious arguments on the stage. In Tabriz there were clashes between supporters of Shariatmadaris and Khomeini supporters and in the larger cities of Baluchistan it was not possible to vote at all because the polling stations were blocked. [...] So far, the results from 83 cities are available. There 99.7 percent voted for the proposed constitution. Figures on the voter turnout - which one will not be allowed to believe in any case - are not yet available. "

- German Ambassador Ritzel , December 4th 1979.

With the result of the referendum, the Iranian people adopted the new Iranian constitution. The constitution, tailor-made for the revolutionary leader Ruhollah Khomeini, had to be revised after his death and confirmed by a new referendum. This constitution of July 28, 1989 is still in force today.

See also

• Political Development of Iran
• Constitutional referendum in Iran in March 1979
• Constitutional referendum in Iran in 1989

Remarks

1. ↑ The result of 99.5% was even higher than the referendum of March 1979 . In contrast, the voter turnout (20,857,391 voters) was lower, it was 71.6% compared to 99% in March 1979.
   20,857,391 voters from the December election correspond exactly to the number of voters from the March election and the election for the expert assembly on August 3, 1979 .

Individual evidence

1. ^ Wahied Wahdat-Hagh : The Islamic Republic of Iran. Berlin 2003, ISBN 3-8258-6781-1 , p. 236
2. ↑ Michael Ploetz, Tim Szatkowski: Files on the Foreign Policy of the Federal Republic of Germany 1979 , R. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 2010, ISBN 978-3-486-59191-0 , p. 1872
3. ↑ servat.unibe.ch Constitution of the IRI (English), accessed on February 7, 2013