1997 Iranian presidential election

Iranian presidential election, 1997

← 1993 23 May 1997 2001 →
Registered36,466,487
Turnout79.92%
  Members of the Government Meeting Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei - January 11, 1998 (Cropped on Khatami).jpg Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri by NLAI.jpg
Nominee Mohammad Khatami Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri
Party ACC CCA
Popular vote 20,078,187 7,242,859
Percentage 69.07% 24.91%

President before election

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
CCA

Elected President

Mohammad Khatami
ACC

Presidential elections were held in Iran on 23 May 1997, which resulted in an unpredicted win for the reformist candidate Mohammad Khatami. The election was notable not only for the lopsided majority of the winner - 70% - but for the high turnout. 80% of those eligible to vote did so, compared to 50% in the previous presidential election.

During the election, voting age was 15 and more than half of Iran's population was younger than 25.

Candidates

The Council of Guardians blocked 234 candidates from running for the presidency because they lacked the religious and political qualifications. Only four candidates were permitted to run for office:

Disqualified candidates

Declined to run

Issues

The candidates were asked about their opinion on the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri said that any "a good Muslim" would carry out the fatwa. Mohammad Khatami avoided the issue. Mohammad Khatami's supporters called Nateq-Nouri the "Taliban" of Iran.

Khatami ran on a platform of political liberalization at home and détente abroad and expressed support for the easing Islamic regulations "from women's dress to whether TV satellite dishes should be allowed."

Endorsements

Organization Candidate
Combatant Clergy Association Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri
Islamic Coalition Society
Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom
Society of Devotees of the Islamic Revolution
Association of Combatant Clerics Mohammad Khatami
Executives of Construction Party
Coalition of Imam's Line groups
Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution of Iran Organization
Hezbollah Assembly (parliamentary group)
Association for Defence of Revolution Values Mohammad Reyshahri
Freedom Movement of Iran Boycott
Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan

Media

During the elections, neutrality of Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) became a subject of dispute, as the organization was accused of supporting Nateq-Nouri and promoting conservative agenda.

Results

1997 Iranian presidential election
Party Candidate Nohen et al ISSDP
Votes % Votes %
Association of Combatant Clerics Mohammad Khatami 20,078,187 69.07 20,138,784 69.1
Combatant Clergy Association Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri 7,242,859 24.91 7,248,317 24.87
Independent Reza Zavarei 771,460 2.65 772,707 2.65
Association for Defence of Revolution Values Mohammad Reyshahri 742,598 2.55 744,205 2.65
Blank or invalid votes 240,996 0.93 241,732 0.83
Totals 29,067,100 100 29,145,745 100
Registered voters 33,784,000 86.04 36,466,487 79.92

This page was last updated at 2023-06-01 05:20 UTC. Update now. View original page.

All our content comes from Wikipedia and under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


Top

If mathematical, chemical, physical and other formulas are not displayed correctly on this page, please useFirefox or Safari