Justifications of Class Based Election in Iranian Constitutional Revolution

After the victory of constitutional revolution the first ever election in Iran’s history was held. Election was the ceremony of sovereignty transfer to people, which was formerly transferred by succession. Thus the new election institution revealed the rupture in the foundation of the state. Not all classes and estates were allowed to participate in the election at the beginning of constitutional revolution, most people did not have the chance to participate in that first election and only six classes did. In the present article we will try to explain the basis and justifications of class system of election from the view point of constitutionalists. Why did the constitutionalists choose a class based election system and not one in which everyone, regardless of class and estate, could enroll and vote? We will conclude that, through this election, constitutionalists were after a means of solidifying the foundations of constitutional revolution, and that at the beginning of the 20th century Iranian society was not capable of a universal suffrage..