Dissolution

August 16, 1953 — The Indian Express


The Mossadegh Project | October 20, 2013                  


Article in The Sunday Standard, which was the Sunday morning edition of The Indian Express published simultaneously in Madras, Bombay and Delhi.




Elections in Iran

TEHERAN, AUG. 15
THE Iranian Prime Minister, Dr. Mohammed Mossadeq asked the Shah today to call a general election by issuing a firman (Imperial Edict).

Last week, the results of a non-secret nation-wide plebiscite gave Dr. Mossadeq an overwhelming mandate to dissolve Parliament—now whittled down to 22 diehard opposition members many of whom have taken sanctuary in the Majlis building.

The opposition has challenged the legality of the plebiscite which gave 2,043,389 Iranians as wanting dissolution and only 1,207 voting in favor of keeping Parliament alive.

At a Press conference today the Iranian Foreign Minister Dr. Hussein Fatemi was asked why no official order dissolving Parliament had been issued.

“When the Ministry of the Interior announced the final figures on the referendum on Thursday night, the Majlis was considered dissolved,” he said.

He added that Thursday’s announcement also meant that Deputies of the out-going Parliament will no longer be covered by Parliamentary immunity.

This might mean that the members of the present rump Majlis would be arrested individually or in a group should they leave the precincts of the Majlis building.

Dr. Fatemi said that instructions have been sent to Governors throughout the country to form village councils to supervise the elections.

FRENCH ACTIVITIES IN N. AFRICA

Foreign Minister Hussein Fatemi said today that Iran has told its representative at the U.N. to support an Arab-Asian complaint against French activities in North Africa.

He told a press conference that in the name of his Government, “I express appreciation for the resistance by the Sultan of Morocco and my hatred for the imperialistic activities of France in North Africa.”

Mossadeq Thanks Nation

TEHERAN, August 14.
Prime Minister Mossadeq, in a broadcast today thanking the people for their plebiscite vote calling for the dissolution of the Iranian Parliament, complained that foreigners were misinterpreting Iran’s policy.

A number of foreigners are trying to misinterpret every step taken by the Iranian nation to reach their goal, he said.

“The best proof of this is the recent attitude of some world statesmen in representing our national uprising as a result of other arguments and elements,” he said.



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Related links:

Political Prospects In Iran | CIA Report, July 29, 1953

Vintage NBC News Clip on Iran Referendum (VIDEO) — August 6, 1953

Tension in Teheran | The Indian Express, August 16, 1953



MOSSADEGH t-shirts — “If I sit silently, I have sinned”

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