Political parties in Iran

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See also: List of political parties in Iran

Political parties in Iran gives information on the political parties in Iran.

Iran has regular presidential and parliamentary elections. Only those candidates and parties that are approved by the clerical Guardian Council can be elected. The system as a whole is presented as a "republic" based on Islamist ideology.

Currently, there are 223 [1] registered political parties, associations and organizations that have been given legitimacy to operate, but not as an opposition to the religious system of the governance. They usually operate in loose alignments within two main coalitions, the conservative and the reformist.

Contents

[edit] Parties inside Iran

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

[edit] Conservative Alliance

See also: Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran

[edit] Main Parties
  • Association of Islamic Revolution Loyalists : secretary-general Hassan Ghafurifard
  • Moderation and Development Party : secretary-general Mohammad Baqer Nobakht
  • Iranian Nation's Welfare Party : secretary-general Khalil Ali Mohammadzadeh

[edit] Ultra-conservatives

[edit] Reformist Coalition

Main article: 2nd of Khordad Movement

[edit] Main Parties
  • Society of Forces Following the Line of the Imam : secretary-general Hadi Khamenei
  • Islamic Labour Party : secretary-general Abolqasem Sarhadizadeh
  • Workers' House : secretary-general Alireza Mahjub
  • Youth Party of Iran : secretary-general Mahdi Agha-Alikhani
  • Freedom Party of Iran : secretary-general Majid Mohtashami

[edit] Dissident Groups

There are a many tolerated groups not allowed to participate in the elections. They are close to the reformists and grouped in a coalition named the Nationalist-Religious Forces whose spokesman is Ezzatollah Sahabi. The main party of the coalition is the Freedom Movement Party of Ebrahim Yazdi, but also the Movement of Muslim Militants of Habibollah Peyman. There is also the Kurdish United Front.

[edit] Opposition parties active in exile

[edit] Generality

[edit] Ideologies

There are roughly 70 political parties outside Iran (they fled the Islamist Regime) which can be divided into 6 ideological branches from left to right :

- the Communists (17 parties)

- the Socialists and Social-Democrats (8 parties)

- the Ethnicalists (24 parties)

- the Nationalists (6 parties)

- the Liberal-Democrats (9 parties)

- the Conservatives (4 parties)

[edit] Notoriety of these parties

In fact a lot of Iranians do not know the majority of these 70 exiled political parties. The parties known by nearly all Iranians are the Mojahedin, the Monarchists (falsely believed to be one party), the National Front (known in Iran as the Mossadeghists), the Fadayan-e Khalq and the Tudeh Party (today an agonizing party but falsely believed by many to be the only Communist Party). For example, few Iranians are aware of the existence of the Hekmatist Party although the latter is more dynamic than the Tudeh. Only 4 parties out of the 70 could be considered powerful, in order :

- the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran of Maryam Rajavi, (Conservative)

- the Constitutionalist Party of Iran of Daryoush Homayoun, (Liberal-Democrat)

- the Organization of Iranian People's Fedaian (Majority) of Behrouz Khaliq (Socialist)

- the National Front of Iran of Adib Boroumand, (Center-Left Nationalist)

see also List of political parties in Iran.


The rest of the Opposition is insignificant : for example the "Labor Party" or the "Green Party" or the "Rastakhiz Organization" are rather tiny clubs of individuals than political parties and do not influence the political arena of Iran. But 11 of them are of some importance :

- The Tudeh Party and the Communist Party of Iran (of Ebrahim Alizadeh), which were important parties in the past, exist today in a very anemic state.

- The Worker-Communist Party of Iran was formerly powerful and led by the charismatic Mansoor Hekmat before splitting into three weak parties [1] when the latter died in 2002. Among the three parties the Hekmatist Party is the most vocal.

- The Pan-Iranist Party and the Iran Nation Party, both based in Iran, have always been dynamic but very small parties. The Iran Nation Party has suffered a great loss when both of its leaders, Dariush and Parvaneh Forouhar, were murdered in Tehran in 1998 by the Islamic Republic.

- The National Movement of Iranian Resistance (NAMIR) of Shahpour Bakhtiar [2] and the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (DPIK) of Abdul Rahman Qasimlo, although prominent parties in the past, have almost been destroyed with the killings of their charismatic leaders by the Islamic Republic. The NAMIR has almost ceased to exist, whereas the DPIK struggles to expand its activities. In December 2006, this party split another time into two groups : the DPIK and the DPIK (Ararat).

- The Organization of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) has isolated itself by rejecting joint actions or even dialogue with non-communist parties (they do not have a good relation even with some communist parties deemed not too radical like the Tudeh Party). The Rahe Kargar is seen by many right and left parties as a sectarian and inflexible party. [3]

- The Komala (not to be confused with the Komalah with an h), although an important party, can't be classified among the four powerful party of the Opposition cited above since its modest activities are only concentrated in the kurdish-inhabited provinces of Iran. Furthermore Komala split into two parties in August 2007[4].

- The Marze Por Gohar Party is still too small, too localized and unknown inside Iran.

- The Islamic Society of the Iranians has few members but has a prominent leader (Abolhassan Banisadr).

- The Union of People's Fedaian of Iran is the Iranian Party with the most ties with other Opposition parties (it has warm relations even with the Rahe Kargar). It has been designated as the twin sister of the Organization of Iranian People's Fedaian-Majority but has far fewer members.

[edit] Important individuals without party

There are important exiled individuals with no party who are also important : Ali Afshari, Amir-Abbas Fakhravar, Ahmad Batebi or Manuchehr Mohammadi from the student segment, Mohsen Sazegara, a founder of Iran's Revolutionary Guards, Ramin Jahanbegloo, Abdolkarim Soroush or Dariush Shayegan, influential secular and religious intellectuals, Roya Toloui, a woman activist, Akbar Ganji, the well-known political activist and journalist, Abbas Amir-Entezam, the longest political prisoner of Iran (27 years), Simin Behbahani, one of the most prominent figures in modern Persian literature, Nasser Zarafshan, a famous attorney, Abolhassan Banisadr, the first president of Iran, etc… Even among the clerics based inside and outside Iran, there are numerous radical dissidents but some are more prominent, for example : Hossein Khomeini, grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Hossein Kazemeyni Boroujerdi, Ayatollah Ganjei (exiled in Paris), Ayatollah Mehdi Haeri Khorshidi (exiled in Germany) or Hojjatoleslam Ezimi Qedimi, etc. Several mullah dissidents around the world created "the Free Muslims" : [5].

[edit] History

[edit] Past (1990-2003)

Before the year 2003, a lot of parties tried to unite and failed. Only two unions succeeded; but even them - which are the National Council of Resistance of Iran and the Workers Left Unity - Iran - are just an alliance of two parties : the conservative People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran and the marxist Organization of Iranian People Fadaee Guerillas for the first one and the Iranian fedaian communist league and the Organization of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) for the latter.

Some Communists (the Tudeh Party for example), the Socialists (above all Organization of Iranian People's Fedaian-Majority), the Nationalists (for instance the National Front), the Monarchists (as the Constitutionalist Party) and the Ethnicalists (like the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan) several times discussed how to come together in the past, but without results, given that :

1) Almost all the Communists (for instance the Rahe Kargar [6]) are opposed to cooperating with non-communist parties.

2) The main challenge comes from the Monarchists, for leftist or some pro-republican parties are reticent to form an alliance with them.

3) Few are also opposed to dialogue with the Mojahedin.

Because of that, western journalists and Iran experts have repeatedly said that the Opposition is ineffective, discredited and inflexible.

[edit] Present (2003-2007)

However, since 2003 the leftist activists did what no others had done in the past : they created the United Republicans of Iran (URI), a federation of three pro-republican parties : [7],[8] . Over one thousand personnalities took part in the inauguration of the URI in Berlin.

At the same time, in Paris, other leftists created another alliance named the Democratic and Secular Republicans of Iran (DSRI).

The DSRI is considered more leftist than the URI and its members belong to three socialist parties : the Union of People's Fedaian of Iran, the Organization of Iranian Socialists and the Provisional Council of Iranian Left Socialists [9]. The URI is more prominent and is a federation of three parties, namely the Democratic People's Party of Iran of Babak Amirkhosravi (a separated fraction of the communist Tudeh party), the Iranian National Republicans of Hassan Shariatmadari, son of the late Grand Ayatollah Kazem Shariatmadari, and the Organization of Iranian People's Fedaian-Majority. The Democratic People's Party of Iran has ceased to exist and was absorbed by the URI, the Iranian National Republicans (http://www.iran-jommelli.com) exists by name but all its activities is done within the URI, but the OIPF-M continues its activities inside and also outside the URI.[10].

Both the URI and the DSRI are still discussing how to forme a single union to form a strong "republican" (=leftist) force [11]. Both have also invited two ethnical parties (the DPIK and the Komala), a centrist party (the National Front of Iran), a far left party (the Provisional Council of Iranian Left Socialists) and even a conservative party (the Islamic Society of the Iranians) to these negotiations which took place on September 22 2007. [12]; [13]

Moreover, since September 2005 a greater spectrum of these exiled parties who used to be very divided (even among groups of similar philosophies) have begun to unite. Reza Pahlavi had dinner in Berlin with some of the leftists who had helped to overthrow his father, and it generated outrage on both the left and the right.

For the first time, a Republican (the late spokesman of the National Front of Iran) Parviz Varjavand wrote in an article in August 2006 [14] that Democracy is compatible with both a Constitutional Monarchy and a Republic and that the issue should not be between Constitutional Monarchy and Republic. The Green Party of Iran led by Kayvan Koboli said the same thing months before Parviz Varjavand : [15]. Heshmat Raeisi, ex-member of the Central Committee of both the Fedai and the Tudeh Party [16], participated in the sixth Congress of the (monarchist) Constitutionalist Party of Iran in November 2006 and gave a speech : [17]; in February 2007 Dariush Homayoun of the rightist Constitutionalist Party of Iran wrote a friendly letter to the major leftist party (the OIPFG (M)) [18]. Hossein Bagherzadeh of the latter party answered : [19].

In June 2006, a huge gathering of all important Iranian parties and activists (including the monarchists and rightist parties like the Pan-Iranist Party) called "Neshaste Landan" took place in London for the first time ever.[20]

The dialogue (and cooperation ?) between the right-wing and left-wing parties is now official for the first time although it has been criticized by several personnalities [21]. Furthermore, the Mojahedin didn't participate in this gathering : [22].

This London gathering of June 2006 managed to choose a nine-member council charged with organizing a large congress within the next year to discuss and try to put in place an Administration that will take over in the event the Islamic Republic vanish : Victoria Azad, Shahriar Ahy, Hossein Bagherzadeh, Ramin Parham, Abdolsattar Doshooki, Kambiz Roosta, Iman Forootan, Moshallah Salimi, Ali-Reza Nourizadeh [23].

In June 2007, the council organized another three-day gathering which took place in Paris and was called "Hamayesh-e Hambastegi-ye Iran" [24]. It has been considered "historical" in the history of the Iranian Opposition by all political tendencies and has a special and daily updated website : http://www.neshastelondon.info/joomla/

Three months before (in April 2007) the last taboo among the Opposition dropped : for the first time the Mojahedin were invited to form a united Front against the Islamic Regime. [25]

[edit] Gathering together (2008)

The situation as of 2008 is clearer. Four political groups are emerging :

- a leftist bloc comprising 6 parties :

The United Republicans of Iran + The Democratic and Secular Republicans of Iran + The Organization of Iranian People's Fedaian (Majority) + The Union of People's Fedaian of Iran + The Provisional Council of Iranian Left Socialists + The Tudeh Party of Iran

- a center-right bloc comprising 9 parties :

The National Front of Iran + The Iran Party + The Iran Nation Party + The National Resistance Movement of Iran + The Pan-Iranist Party + The Liberal Democrats of Iran + The Constitutionalist Party of Iran + The Constitutional Movement of Iran-Front Line + The Iranian Motherland Party

- an Islamic party : the People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, the main Opposition group.

- an ethnical bloc grouped in the "Congress of Iranian Nationalities" (16 parties) :

Cultural & civil Society of Khorasani Kurds + The Kurdistan Freedom Party + The Balochistan People's Front + The Balochistan United Front-Federal Republican + The Baluchistan National Movement - Iran + The Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan + The Party of United Lurestan and Bakhtiari + The Balochistan Peoples Party + The Democratic Solidarity Party of al-Ahwaz + The National Movement of Iranian Turkmenistan + The Southern Azerbaijan National Awakening Movement + The Turkmen National Democratic Movement + The Organization for Defence of the Rights of Turkmen People + The Komala Party of Iranian Kurdistan + The Federal-Democratic Movement of Azerbaijan + The Azerbaijan Diplomatic Mission

Links of the exiled political parties
Links of the exiled political parties

[edit] Names and websites of the Opposition

Here are the names and the programs of all known Iranian political parties based in exile (Europe, USA, Canada, Australia, and sometimes Turkey, Iraq, Dubai, Israel, Pakistan) :

[edit] The Communists

There are 18 Iranian communist parties. However only two out of them could be considered alive, namely the Hekmatist Party, and the Organization of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar).

[edit] Historical party

The well-known Communist Party which used to be very powerful. No longer very active. The oldest political party in Iran.

http://www.tudehpartyiran.org/ or http://www.rahetudeh.com/

[edit] Hekmatism

The three splits of the communists who follow the teachings of Mansour Hekmat :

http://www.wpiran.org

http://www.hekmatist.com

  • Worker Communism Unity Party of Iran led by Ali Javadi.

http://www.for-abetterworld.com

[edit] Maoism

The two Maoist parties :

http://www.sarbedaran.org/

  • Toilers Party of Iran (Hezbe Ranjbarane Iran)

http://www.ranjbaran.org/

[edit] Fadaian

The original communist motherparty was called Organization of Iranian People's Fedai Guerrillas. Since 1980, it has split 9 times and 7 of them are still communist. The other two have evolved into socialist parties.

  • Organization of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) led by Mohammad-Reza Shalgooni

http://www.rahekargar.net/

http://www.fadaian-minority.org/

  • Minority's Cell (dead party ?) led by Mastoureh Ahmadzadeh

http://www.hasteh.com/

http://www.siahkal.com/

http://www.fadaian.org/ or http://www.jonge-khabar.com/ or http://www.iran-nabard.com/

http://www.iranian-fedaii.de/

  • Iranian fedaian communist league

http://fedayi.org/

[edit] Others
  • Komalah led by Ebrahim Alizadeh. It is, according to them, the "kurdish section" of the Communist Party of Iran. In fact the Komalah and the Communist Party of Iran are the same.

http://www.komalah.org (for Komalah) and http://www.cpiran.org/ (for the Communist Party of Iran)

  • Labor Party of Iran (or Toufan, supporting Enver Hoxha's communism).

http://www.toufan.org/

  • Socialist Party of Iran led by Fereydoon Gilani.

http://www.jonbesh-iran.com/

  • Workers Socialist Unity

http://www.wsu-iran.org/

[edit] The Socialists/Social-Democrats

Only the Organization of Iranian People's Fedaian-Majority is active. The United Republicans of Iran (URI) and the Democratic and Secular Republicans of Iran (DSRI) are not really parties but federations of parties and individuals and both are strong.

  • United Republicans of Iran (International Relations Coordinator : Mehdi Amini)

http://www.jomhouri.com/

  • Democratic and Secular Republicans of Iran (spokesman : Mehrdad Darvishpour ?)

http://www.sedaye-ma.org/

http://www.kar-online.com/ or in English/French/German: http://www.fadai.org/

  • Union of People's Fedaian of Iran with Pirouz Navidi/Ahmad Azad.

http://www.etehadefedaian.org/

  • Provisional Council of Iranian Left Socialists with Majid Zarbakhsh

http://www.tarhino.com/

  • Organization of Iranian Socialists led by Mansour Bayatzadeh (their members are called Socialist Mossadeghists), close to the National Front of Iran

http://www.ois-iran.com/

http://www.iran-e-sabz.org/

  • Social Democratic Party of Iran led by Jalal Madani/Khosro Shakeri.

http://www.spiran.com/

[edit] The Conservatives

Neither secular nor islamist. They are against the application of the Sharia but at the same time oppose everything opposed to what they call “the main principles of Islam”. They believe in the equality between men and women and at the same time their female supporters are mostly veiled. The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran, which used to have an "army" in Iraq until 2003, is considered to be the best organized opposition group of Iran.

http://www.mojahedin.org/ or http://www.hambastegimeli.com/

  • Islamic Society of the Iranians led by Abolhassan Banisadr

http://enghelabe-eslami.com/ or http://www.majameeslamiiranian.com/

  • Tachye Alavi Movement (dead party ?) led by Mohammad Maleki

http://www.nehzatetashyealavi.com/

  • The Freedom-seekers Combattants of Iran, a pro-Shariati party

http://www.samaa.org/

[edit] The Nationalists

Most of them are republican but some favor a constitutionnal monarchy as in Spain. Among the Nationalists, the divided National Front is the most active. The Monarchist Nationalists are the Pan-Iranist Party and the Rastakhiz Organization. The Republican Nationalists have many contacts inside Iran. They are united in an organization called "Melliun" [26] (except the Pan-Iranist Party). They have the particularity of being the only opposition parties to be openly present in Iran :

http://www.jminews.com or http://www.jebhemelli.net/

  • Iran Party led by Nezamoddin Movahed. (a social democratic party)

http://www.melliun.org/hezbeir02.htm

http://www.melliun.org/hezbemel02.htm or https://hezbemellateiran.com/

http://www.melliun.org/nehzatm.htm or http://www.namir.info/

http://www.paniranist.org/ or http://www.paniranism.org/ or http://www.paniranist.com/

  • Rastakhiz Organization led by Masoud Khoshnood

http://www.rastakhiz.org/

[edit] The Liberal-Democrats

Only the Constitutionalist Party of Iran is active. The majority of the Liberal-Democrats favor a constitutional monarchy in Iran.

http://irancpi.net/

http://www.marzeporgohar.org

  • The Liberal Democrats of Iran

http://www.iranliberal.com/

http://www.azadeganiran.com/

  • the Democratic Front of Iran led by Heshmatollah Tabarzadi.

http://www.idfravabet.blogfa.com/

  • Democrat Party of Iran led by Kaveh Shirzad.

http://www.irandp.org

  • Constitutional Movement of Iran-Front Line led by Mehrdad Khonsari.

http://www.cmi-fl.com/

  • Flag of Freedom Organization of Iran led by Manouchehr Ganji. Known in his Persian name : Derafshe Kaviyani.

http://www.derafsh.org/

  • Iranian Motherland Party led by Amir Sepehr.

http://www.hezbemihan.org/

[edit] The Ethnicalists

The DPIK and Komala are considered alive. Some of these ethnical parties formed a union called "Congress of Iranian Nationalities" : http://www.iranfederal.org/

[edit] Kurds

http://www.kurdistanmedia.com/ or http://www.pdki.org/ (English)

  • Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan (Ararat), a separated fraction of the DPIK created in December 2006. Led by Abdollah Hassanzadeh

http://pdka.blogfa.com/

  • Kurdistan Democratic Party-Iran

http://kurdistanukurd.com/

  • Komala, a separated fraction of Komalah, is led by Abdollah Mohtadi.

http://www.komala.org

  • Pejak, a group linked to the PKK and led by Ronahi Ahmed.

http://www.pjak.com/

  • Organization of Iranian Kurdistan Struggle

http://www.sazmanikhabat.com/

http://www.khabat.org/

  • Kurdistan Freedom Party

http://www.pazadik.com/

[edit] Baluchs
  • Balochistan People's Front led by Reza Hossein Borr.

http://balochistanpeoplesfront.blogspot.com/

  • Balochistan United Front (Federal Republican)

http://www.balochunitedfront.org/

  • Baluchistan National Movement-Iran

http://www.zrombesh.org/

  • Balochistan People's Party led by Nasser Booladei

http://www.ostomaan.org/

[edit] Azeris

http://www.gamoh.org

  • Federal-Democratic Movement of Azerbaijan

http://www.achiq.org/

  • Democratic Party of Azerbaijan

http://www.adf-mk.org/

  • Azerbaijan Cultural Society

http://www.tribun.com/

[edit] Arabs

For more information about these parties : [27]

  • Democratic Solidarity Party of Ahwaz

http://alahwaz.info

  • Ahwazian Arab people’s Democratic, Popular Front

http://www.alahwaz.com

  • Ahwazi Renaissance Party

http://www.al-mohamra.nu/

  • Ahwaz Liberation Organisation

http://www.alahwaz-revolutionary-council.org/

[edit] Turkmens
  • Organization for Defence of the Rights of Turkmen People

http://www.turkmenler.org/

  • National Movement of Iranian Turkmenistan

http://www.erkinlik.org/

  • Turkmen National Democratic Movement

http://www.turkmenlik.org/

[edit] Lurs & Bakhtiaris
  • Party of United Lurestan and Bakhtiari led by Faramarz Bakhtiar

http://www.bakhtiar.de/1628235.htm

[edit] Most visited political parties' websites

According to Alexa Internet, only 10 of these exiled parties are among the top 10,000 most visited Internet sites inside Iran. None of these parties are among the top 1000 which indicates the low level of their supporters and the difficulties in Iran to read them since all are censored inside Iran (but there are ways to circumvent the censorship).

Numbers from mid-April 2007 :

Rank Party Ideology Website Traffic Ranking inside Iran World Traffic Ranking
1 The Liberal Democrats of Iran Liberal Democracy (Republican) http://www.iranliberal.com 2,765 558,435
2 Flag of Freedom Organization of Iran Nationalism (Right) http://www.derafsh.org 2,918 488,605
3 People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran Conservatism (religious) http://www.hambastegimeli.com 5,456 128,389
4 Organization of Revolutionary Workers of Iran (Rahe Kargar) Revolutionnary socialism http://www.rahekargar.net/ 5,419 113,122
5 United Republicans of Iran Social democracy http://www.jomhouri.com 5,953 346,646
6 Organization of Iranian People's Fedayee Guerrillas Reform Communism http://www.iran-nabard.com 7,303 472,014
7 Marze Por Gohar Nationalism (Center) http://www.marzeporgohar.org 8,508 603,531
8 Green Party of Iran Green Politics http://www.iran-e-sabz.org/ 8,985 726,060
9 National Front of Iran Nationalism (Center-Left) http://www.jebhemelli.net/ 9,966 788,318
10 Constitutionalist Party of Iran Liberal democracy (Monarchist) http://www.rezapahlavi.org/ 9,997 248,410

[edit] References

  1. ^ List of the parties

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

v • d • e
Flag of Iran Political parties in Iran
Conservatives
Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran (Islamic Society of Engineers · Combatant Clergy Association · Islamic Coalition Party · Association of Islamic Revolution Loyalists · Moderation and Development Party · Coalition of Iran's Independent Volunteers · Iranian Nation's Welfare Party) · Fundamentalist groups
Reformists
Association of Combatant Clerics · Islamic Iran Participation Front · National Confidence Party · Executives of Construction Party · Society of Forces Following the Line of the Imam · Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization · Islamic Labour Party · Workers' House · Iran Solidarity Party · Youth Party of Iran · Freedom Movement of Iran · Nationalist-Religious Forces
Major parties
in exile
Politics of Iran · Political parties by country · Portal:Politics
Languages