Islamic Republican Party

The Islamic Republican Party (IRP; Persian: حزب جمهوری اسلامی, romanized: Ḥezb-e Jomhūrī-e Eslāmī, also translated Islamic Republic Party) was formed in 1979 to assist the Iranian Revolution and Ayatollah Khomeini in their goal to establish theocracy in Iran. It was disbanded in 1987 due to internal conflicts.

Islamic Republican Party حزب جمهوری اسلامی
Historic leader	Ruhollah Khomeini
Founders	Ali Khamenei[1] Mohammad Beheshti[1] ... and others Mohammad Javad Bahonar[1] Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani[1] Abdolkarim Mousavi-Ardabili[1]
Founded	17 February 1979 (1979-02-17)[2]
Dissolved	1 June 1987 (1987-06-01)[2]
Headquarters	Tehran, Iran[3]
Newspaper	Jomhouri-e Eslami[4]
Paramilitary wing	Revolutionary Guards[5]
Trade union	Workers' House
Membership	2.5 million (1979 est.)[6]
Ideology	Khomeinism[7] Shia Islamism[8] Theocracy[4][9] Populism[4] Political Islam[9] Clericalism[4] Anti-imperialism[4] Anti-Marxism[4] Factions: Planned economy[10] Free market economy[10] Radicalism[2] Pragmatism[2]
Political position	Big tent[10]
Religion	Shia Islam
Electoral alliance	Islamic Coalition (1979)[11] Grand Coalition (1980)[12]
Slogan	"One nation, one religion, one order, one leader"[4]
Politics of Iran Political parties Elections

Founders and characteristics

The party was formed just two weeks following the revolution upon the request of Ayatollah Khomeini.^[13] Five cofounders of the party were Mohammad Javad Bahonar, Mohammad Beheshti, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ali Khamenei, and Abdolkarim Mousavi-Ardabili.^[13][1] Early members of the central committee of the party, in addition to founding members, were Hassan Ayat, Asadollah Badamchiyan, Abdullah Jasbi, Mir Hossein Mousavi, Habibollah Askar Oladi, Sayyed Mahmoud Kashani, Mahdi Araghi, and Ali Derakhshan.^[1] The party had three general secretaries: Beheshti, Bahonar and Khamenei.^[1]

The party has been said to be distinguished by "its strong clerical component, its loyalty to Khomeini, its strong animosity to the liberal political movements, and its tendency to support the revolutionary organizations", such as the komiteh. Policies it supported included the state takeover of large capital enterprises, the establishment of an Islamic cultural and university system, and programs to assist the poor.^[14] These revolutionary ayatollahs originally used the party to form a monopoly over the post-revolutionary theocratic Iranian state. In its struggle with civilian opponents, the party made use of its ties to the Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah.

Secretaries-general

Name	Tenure	Ref
Mohammad Beheshti	1979–1981	[1]
Mohammad Javad Bahonar	1981	[1]
Ali Khamenei	1981–1987	[1]

Causes of its dissolution

Ali Khamenei at the party's office in Qom, 1983

In the late 1980s, factionalism in the IRP intensified, the major issues being the Iran-Iraq War, whether to open up to foreign countries or remain isolated, and economic policies. Because all rival parties had been banned, the party "did almost nothing and had little incentive to."^[15] According to Ahmad Mneisi,

"While unanimous on the idea of a theological state and united under the umbrella of one party, the Islamic Republican Party (IRP), [the religious right] differed on a number of issues, such as the extent to which religion is to take hold of political life (the Velayat-e Faqih debate).^[16]

Daniel Brumberg argued that the IRP was dissolved to weaken popular Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi, as the party had become a stronghold of radical activism backing him in his dispute with President Ali Khamenei.^[17] Another report states that it was dissolved in May 1987 due to internal conflicts,^[1][18] and the party was disbanded upon joint proposal of Rafsanjani and Khamenei on 2 May 1987 when their proposal was endorsed by Khomeini.^[13]

1983 congress

The party held its first congress in May 1983 and the members elected the 30-members central council as follows:^[19]

# Member (faction) Votes 1 Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (R) 647 2 Ali Khamenei (R) 646 3 Mohammad Mehdi Rabbani Amlashi (R) 637 4 Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani (R) 634 5 Ali Akbar Velayati (R) 624 6 Abbas Vaez Tabasi (R) 623 7 Ali Akbar Nategh Nouri (R) 612 8 Ali Akbar Parvaresh (R) 589 9 Abbas Sheibani (R) 579 10 Mohamma Reza Beheshti (L) 578 11 Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi (R) 574 12 Masih Mohajeri (L) 570 13 Hassan Ghafourifard (R) 550 14 Mir-Hossein Mousavi (L) 554 15 Habibollah Asgaroladi (R) 542

# Member (faction) Votes 16 Mohsen Doagou Feizabaadi (R) 500 17 Abolghasem Sarhaddizadeh (L) 499 18 Gholamhossein Sharifkhani 460 19 Mohammad Reza Bahonar (R) 453 20 Asadollah Lajevardi (R) 430 21 Asadollah Badamchian (R) 428 22 Javad Mansouri (L) 414 23 Reza Zavare'i (R) 410 24 Abdollah Jassbi (R) 375 25 Morteza Nabavi (R) 372 26 Saeed Amani (R) 310 27 Mohieddin Fazel Harandi (R) 276 28 Mostafa Mir-Salim (R) 260 29 Mohammad-Hossein Asgharnia 231 30 Javad Eje'i (L) 223

Allied organizations

The following organizations formed an alliance with the party:^[20]

• Mojahedin of the Islamic Revolution Organization
• Islamic Coalition Party
• Combatant Clergy Association
• Worker House

Electoral history

Presidential elections

Election	Main candidate	Votes	%	Result
1980	Hassan Habibi	674,859	3.35	3rd
1981, July	Mohammad-Ali Rajai	12,779,050	87.69	1st
1981, October	Ali Khamenei	16,007,072	95.01	1st
1985	Ali Khamenei	12,203,870	87.90	1st

Parliamentary elections

Election	Party leader	Seats	+/–	Position
1980	Mohammad Beheshti	85 / 270	—	1st
1984	Ali Khamenei	130 / 270	45	1st

See also

• List of largest political parties