View source for 1952 Iranian legislative election

{{Short description|1952 parliamentary elections for the Iranian legislative assembly}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 1952 Iranian legislative election
| country = Iran
| flag_image = State flag of Iran (1933–1964).svg
| type = parliamentary 
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 1950 Iranian legislative election
| previous_year = 1950
| next_election = 1954 Iranian legislative election
| next_year = 1954
| seats_for_election = 79 seats to the National Consultative Assembly
| election_date = 1952
| image1 = [[File:Dr Mohammad Mosaddeq.jpg|130px]]
| leader1 = Mohammad Mosaddegh
| alliance1 = National Front
| colour1 = no
| party1 = {{collapsible list
 | titlestyle = font-weight:normal;background:transparent;text-align:center;
 | title = ''Parties''
 | Iran Party
 | Toilers Party
 | Society of Muslim Warriors
 | Nation Party
 | Party of the Iranian People
}}
| leaders_seat1 = ''Did not stand''
| seats1 = 30
| image2 = [[File:Reza Radmanesh.jpg|125px]]
| leader2 = Reza Radmanesh
| party2 = Tudeh Party
| leaders_seat2 = ''Did not stand''
| alliance2 = —
| seats2 = 0
| colour2 = no
| title= Prime Minister
| before_election= Mohammad Mosaddegh
| before_party= National Front (Iran)
| after_election= Mohammad Mosaddegh
| after_party = National Front (Iran)
}}
Parliamentary elections were held in Iran in 1952 to elect the 17th Iranian Majlis.

== Conduct ==
The elections were held by Government of Mosaddegh, who championed free elections and tried to minimize fraud by changing several governor-generals and governors. He also ordered members of the electoral supervisory councils to be selected by lot. However, the government was unable to control the shah, ''Artesh'', the notables, and some of its own supporters. The voting process was stopped by Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh after enough MPs were elected to form a parliamentary quorum (79 out of 136). The decision is viewed as manipulation, because Mosaddegh meant to prevent opposition candidates taking seats from rural areas. [[Richard Cottam]] describes the elections as "relatively free".

== Results ==
The highly organized Tudeh Party failed to win a single seat, despite receiving the second-highest number of votes.

In Tehran, the turnout was double that of previous election and the National Front candidates, including members of Iran Party, Toilers Party, Muslim Mojahedin and non-partisan nationalists won all twelve seats. In Tabriz, the nine deputies elected were supporters of Mossadegh.

According to David McDowall, in Mahabad the candidate known to be a Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan member was overwhelmingly elected but the results were annulled. However, [[Denise Natali]] states that the candidate was named Vaziri, who belonged to Tudeh Party. Royalist cleric Hassan Emami eventually took office representing the constituency and was elected as Speaker of the parliament. A CIA document states that the Shah was behind his election.

{| class=wikitable style=text-align:right
! colspan=2|Party/alliance
!Seats
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Royalists||rowspan=2|49
|-
|align=left colspan=2|Pro-British
|-
|align=left rowspan=3|National Front||align=left|Iran Party||rowspan=3|30
|-
|align=left|Toilers Party
|-
|align=left|Muslim Warriors
|-
|align=left colspan=2| ''Vacant''||57
|-
|align=left colspan=2|'''Total'''||'''136'''
|-
|colspan=4 align=left|Source: Abrahamian
|}

== U.S. interference ==
Historian Ervand Abrahamian, in an interview with ''Democracy Now!'', said U.S. State Department documents declassified in 2017 reveal that their strategy was to undermine Mohammad Mosaddegh through parliament and the U.S. [[Central Intelligence Agency]] (CIA) spent a lot of money to get their 18 favorable candidates elected.

{{Iranian elections}}

{{Iran-election-stub}}