People's Party (Persian: حزب مردم, romanized: Ḥezb-e Mardom) was a liberal[1] political party in Pahlavi era Iran. It was one of two major parties in the apparent attempt to decree a two-party system by Mohammad Reza Shah, apparently opposition to the ruling New Iran Party and previously Nationalists' Party. The party was dissolved in 1975, in order to be merged into the newly founded Rastakhiz Party, the only legal party in the Shah's attempted single-party system.[2]
People's Party حزب مردم | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Leader | Asadollah Alam |
| Founded | 16 May 1957 |
| Dissolved | 2 March 1975 |
| Merged into | Rastakhiz Party |
| Ideology | Royalism Liberalism |
| Political position | Centre-right |
Leadership
Electoral history
Reception
The party was often criticized for its "lethargic, belated and disorganized" election campaigns, as well as being incapable of preparing a viable alternative to the New Iran Party's platform, thus blamed for the latter's continuing domination of the political scene.[4]
American diplomat Andrew Killgore, described the party "made up of cliques of followers of a few competing leaders who cooperate with one another for personal and pragmatic reasons but not out of any sense of party unity", what he calls a "traditional Iranian political party".[5]
In popular culture
According to Ervand Abrahamian, People's Party and New Iran Party were interchangeably called "Yes Sir, Party" (Persian: حزب بلهقربان) and "Yes of Course Sir, Party" (Persian: حزب چشمقربان) by people, as members of the two parties in the National Consultative Assembly were assigned to their affiliation by Shah and with the help of SAVAK.[6]