1980 Iranian presidential election explained

Presidential elections were held for the first time in Iran on 25 January 1980, one year after the Iranian Revolution when the Council of the Islamic Revolution was in power. Abolhassan Banisadr was elected president with 76% of the vote.

Candidates

The number of the candidates registered to run for the presidency was 124, but only 96 of them were allowed to run. There were only 8 candidates with ballot access and the rest of candidates were write-in.

Candidates with ballot access

Party nominees

• Hassan Habibi (Islamic Republican Party)
• Dariush Forouhar (Nation Party)
• Kazem Sami (JAMA)

Non-partisan candidates

• Abolhassan Banisadr
• Ahmad Madani (National Front member)
• Sadeq Tabatabaei (Freedom Movement member)
• Sadegh Ghotbzadeh (Freedom Movement member)
• Mohammad Mokri (National Front member)

Withdrew

• Hassan Ayat (Independent; Islamic Republican Party member), endorsed Jalaleddin Farsi
• Jalaleddin Farsi (Islamic Republican Party nominee), ineligible to run for the office due to his Afghan origin
• Sadegh Khalkhali (Independent), endorsed Abolhassan Banisadr
• Massoud Rajavi (People's Mujahedin of Iran nominee), forced to withdraw for opposing the Islamic Republic constitution

Declined to run

• Ruhollah Khomeini, incumbent Supreme Leader of Iran
• Mohammad Beheshti, incumbent Chief Justice of Iran
• Mehdi Bazargan, former Prime Minister of Iran

Endorsements

Organization	Candidate
Combatant Clergy Association	Abolhassan Banisadr[1]
Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom
Islamic Republican Party
Freedom Movement of Iran	None
Tudeh Party of Iran	Hassan Habibi[2]
Nation Party of Iran	Dariush Forouhar
Revolutionary Movement of Muslim People of Iran	Kazem Sami
People's Mujahedin of Iran	None
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan	None [3]
Organization of People's Fedaian Majority and Minority	None
Movement of Militant Muslims	None
Socialist Workers' Party of Iran	Babak Zahraei
Fada'iyan-e Islam	Abolhassan Banisadr
Islamic Association of Teachers of Iran	Abolhassan Banisadr

Election results

Abolhassan Banisadr was elected as president.

Nationwide

1980 Iranian presidential election
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Abolhassan Banisadr	10,709,330	75.6
	Independent[4]	Ahmad Madani	2,224,554	15.71
		Hassan Habibi	674,859	3.35
		Dariush Forouhar	133,478	0.94
	Independent[5]	Sadeq Tabatabaei	114,776	0.81
		Kazem Sami	89,270	0.63
	Independent	Sadegh Ghotbzadeh	48,547	0.34
Other candidates			2,110	0.01
Valid votes			13,994,814	98.93
Blank or invalid votes			151,806	1.07
Totals			14,146,620	100
Voter turnout			67.42
Sources: Nohlen et al[6] and Iran Social Science Data Portal[7]

Tehran

	Candidate	Votes
1	Abolhassan Banisadr	1,833,197
2	Ahmad Madani	553,557
3	Hassan Habibi	90,228
4	Sadeq Tabatabaei	28,676
5	Kazem Sami	24,676
6	Dariush Forouhar	22,221
7	Sadegh Ghotbzadeh	12,207
8	Mohammad Mokri	299
9	Mahmoud Seirafizadeh	169
Others		<100

Notes and References

1. Web site: First Term of Presidential Elections; 25 January 1980. اولین دوره انتخابات ریاست جمهوری؛ 5 بهمن 1358. Persian. 30110. 28 October 2016. Islamic Revolution Document Center. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140303195801/http://www.irdc.ir/FA/content/30110/default.aspx. 3 March 2014.
2. Web site: Fattah Gholami. How the First Term of Presidential Elections Was Held. اولین انتخابات ریاست جمهوری چگونه برگزار شد. Persian. 383451. 28 October 2016. 25 January 2015. Jaam-e Jam. https://web.archive.org/web/20161031193034/http://jamejamonline.ir/ayam/1807989577116624823/%D8%A7%D9%88%D9%84%DB%8C%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AA%D8%AE%D8%A7%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA-%D8%AC%D9%85%D9%87%D9%88%D8%B1%DB%8C-%DA%86%DA%AF%D9%88%D9%86%D9%87-%D8%A8%D8%B1%DA%AF%D8%B2%D8%A7%D8%B1-%D8%B4%D8%AF. 31 October 2016. dead.
3. Entessar, Nader. "Kurdish Politics in Regional Context". In Kurdish Politics in the Middle East. Rowman & Littlefield, 2010. p. 44., 9780739140390
4. [National Front (Iran)|National Front]
5. [Freedom Movement of Iran]
6. Book: Dieter. Nohlen. Dieter Nohlen. Florian. Grotz. Christof . Hartmann . 2001. Elections in Asia: A Data Handbook. Iran. Oxford University Press. I. 75. 0-19-924958-X.
7. Web site: 1980 Presidential Election. Princeton University. 15 February 2013. Iran Social Science Data Portal. 4 March 2013. https://web.archive.org/web/20130304190442/http://www.princeton.edu/irandataportal/elections/pres/1980/. dead.