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People's Party (Iran)

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1957–1975 political party in Iran This article is about Party in Iran. For other parties with same name, see People's Party. For the party within National Front, see Party of the Iranian People.
People's Party حزب مردم
LeaderAsadollah Alam
Founded16 May 1957 (1957-05-16)
Dissolved2 March 1975 (1975-03-02)
Merged intoRastakhiz Party
IdeologyRoyalism
Liberalism
Political positionCentre-right

People's Party (Persian: حزب مردم, romanizedḤezb-e Mardom) was a liberal political party in Pahlavi-era Iran. It was one of two major parties in the apparent attempt to decree a two-party system by Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, apparently in opposition to the ruling New Iran Party and previously the Nationalists' Party. The party was dissolved in 1975, in order to be merged into the newly founded Rastakhiz Party, the only legal party in the Shah's attempted single-party system.

Leadership

Secretaries-General
Name Tenure Ref
Asadollah Alam 1957–1960
Yahya Adl 1960–1971
Alinaghi Kani 1971–1972
Yahya Adl 1972–1973
Nasser Ameri 1973–1975
Mohammad Fazaeli 1975

Electoral history

Parliament
Year Seats +/– Ref
1956 36 / 136(26%)
1960 25 / 200(13%)
1961 65 / 200(33%) Increase 29
1963 16 / 200(8%) Decrease 49
1967 31 / 219(14%) Increase 15
1971 37 / 268(14%) Increase 6
Senate (elective seats)
Year Seats +/– Ref
1960 Un­known
1963 Un­known
1967 4 / 30(13%)
1971 2 / 30(7%) Decrease 2

Reception

The party was often criticized for its "lethargic, belated and disorganized" election campaigns, as well as being incapable of preparing a viable alternative to the New Iran Party's platform, thus blamed for the latter's continuing domination of the political scene.

American diplomat Andrew Killgore described the party as "made up of cliques of followers of a few competing leaders who cooperate with one another for personal and pragmatic reasons but not out of any sense of party unity", what he calls a "traditional Iranian political party".

In popular culture

According to Ervand Abrahamian, People's Party and New Iran Party were interchangeably called "Yes Sir, Party" (Persian: حزب بله‌قربان) and "Yes of Course Sir, Party" (Persian: حزب چشم‌قربان) by people, as members of the two parties in the National Consultative Assembly were assigned to their affiliation by the Shah and with the help of SAVAK.

References

  1. Cottam, Richard W. (1979). Nationalism in Iran: Updated Through 1978. University of Pittsburgh Pre. p. 297. ISBN 0822974207. Rumor in Tehran had it that Melliyun ("conservative") had been allotted two seats for each seat given Mardom ("liberal"), and as the returns began...
  2. Chehabi, Houchang E. (1990) Iranian Politics and Religious Modernism: The Liberation Movement of Iran Under the Shah and Khomeini. I.B.Tauris
  3. ^ Dieter Nohlen, Florian Grotz & Christof Hartmann (2001) Elections in Asia: A data handbook, Volume I, ISBN 0-19-924958-X
  4. Ramazani, Rouhollah K. (1974). "Iran's 'White Revolution': a Study in Political Development". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 5 (2): 124–139 (subscription required). doi:10.1017/S0020743800027781. JSTOR 162585. S2CID 154527381.
  5. Andrew I. Killgore (30 October 1972), Letter From the Embassy in Iran to the Country Director for Iran (Miklos), Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs, United States Department of State
  6. Abrahamian, Ervand. (2008) History of Modern Iran. Cambridge University Press.
Historical political organizations in Iran
Politics of Iran
Qajar monarchy
Pahlavi monarchy
Islamic Republic
Active parties


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