خارجي ٤١/٥٠٠١ "بلاد فارس - الشؤون الداخلية (إرساليات متنوعة)". [و‎‎٥‎٨] (٢٤٨/١١٥)

Internal Politics and Majlis.
29. The position at the end of 1943 was that the Majlis was not in session,
the 13th legislative period having come to an end and the 14th not having
commenced. About one half of the Deputies had been elected, but the results of
the Tehran elections were not known, though voting had finished. Provincial
results were, however, coming in steadily, and early in January a sufficient number
Q Deputies to enable the Majlis to open were elected. The formal opening was
fixed for the 22nd January and all arrangements were made, when, as the
result of a series of intrigues, the ceremony was postponed. The Shah was
certainly against the opening, and went so far as to suggest to His Majesty’s
Minister that as the elections had been so badly conducted it would be a good
plan to annul them and to have fresh elections under a Prime Minister in whom
everyone would have confidence, viz., Dr. Musaddiq. His Majesty spoke of large
sums spent on votes and interference by officials and by the Russians. The truth
seems to have been that what the Shah really wanted was to have a more sub
servient Majlis : he was also apprehensive of what would happen when Seyyid
Zia Tabatabai took his seat, and hoped that in fresh elections the Seyyid might
be defeated. His Majesty’s Minister deprecated the Shah’s plan and pointed
out that it did not seem to be founded on good constitutional grounds as the
Majlis was in a.ny case bound to examine the Deputies’ credentials and hear
any complaints of irregularity : new elections, especially if governed by a new
electoral law promulgated by decree, would therefore be likely to arouse feeling
against the Shah himself. The Shah finally abandoned his plan, alleging as his
reason that Dr. Musaddiq wanted first to hold a referendum to amend the
electoral law.
30. The date of formal opening was finally fixed foi the 26th February,
and the Majlis was in due course opened on that day by the Shah, who made a
speech setting forth the tasks which lay before the Majlis during the
14th legislative period.
31. Then ensued the usual examination of the credentials of Deputies. A
number of objections were tabled, the most interesting being those against the
election of Seyyid Zia Tabatabai. The attack was led by Dr. Musaddiq. who
based his objection not on the election proceedings at Yezd but on the Seyvid’s
unfitness to be a Deputy owing to his share in the cony d'PAat of February 1921
and the subsequent events. A full-dress debate ensued, during which a good deal
of past history was brought up by both sides, and Seyyid Zia took the opportunity
to give his version of what exactly did happen then. He argued that he, and he
only, was responsible for what he did at that time, i.e., that he was not in any
way subject to British influence, and he took advantage of the opportunity to
state how friendly he had been to the Soviet Government at that time. His
oratory made a good impression on the Deputies and his credentials were passed
by secret ballot with a good majority. The only Deputy whose credentials were
definitely rejected was Durri, the Deputy for Darajez, whose election was said
to have been secured by all kinds of irregular intervention and military pressure,
which must have meant pressure from the Russians.
32. Muhammad Taghi Assad (Amir Jang) was elected temporary president
of the Majlis for the examination of credentials, and afterwards Seyyid
Muhammad Sadigh Tabatabai, who had been in charge of the Tehran electoral
committee, was elected president.
33. The Tehran elections passed off without any great surprises : no Tudeh
candidates got in for Tehran, nor did Qawam-es-Saltaneh nor Seyyid Zia, and
some rich contractors who bought votes on a grand scale were also disappointed.
The notorious mujtahid Seyyid Abul Qasim Kashani, was among the first twelve,
but after pressure from His Majesty’s Ambassador his name was omitted from
the list by the Government. The highly-respectable but aloof Mu’tamin-ul-Mulk
Pirnia was high in the list of successful candidates, but as usual refused to serve.
Another successful candidate was the aged Firuzabadi, but objections to his
candidature on the ground that he was older than the age-limit of 70 were
made and appeared likely to unseat him. The elections of Tabriz were at last
finished by about the 21st March, but the votes had not been counted by the
end of the period under review.
34. Apart from the resignation of General Shafai in February in
circumstances mentioned below, the Soheily Cabinet, which had been formed on the
16th December, remained in power till the business of passing credentials had been
got out of the way. Soheily then resigned, having guessed that the feeling of the
Majlis was against him. After a good deal of talk about Ahy, Ambassador in
Moscow, and Mansour, Governor-General of Khorasan, the Shah asked Sa’ed