2003 Tehran City Council election
| ||||||||||||||||
15 City Council seats 8 seats needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Turnout | 12% | |||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||
An election to the Islamic City Council of Tehran took place on 28 February 2003, along with the local elections nationwide.
The results showed a victory for the conservative Alliance of Builders of Islamic Iran, that gained 14 out of 15 seats, and a massive defeat for all of the Reformist groupings, as well as the Council of Nationalist-Religious Activists of Iran and the Freedom Movement of Iran.
The election is seen as the first in a series of electoral victories for the conservatives, followed by the 2004 legislative election and the 2005 presidential election. Historian Ervand Abrahamian attributes the result to the conservatives retaining their 25% voter base, while "large numbers of women, college students, and other members of the salaried middle class stayed home".
Voter turnout fell to 12% in this election.
This election also marked rise of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to national prominence, because he was subsequently elected as the Mayor of Tehran and his profile was raised for his presidential campaign in 2005.