Ayatollah Khomeini, the leader and the founder of Iran's 1979 Islamic revolution at voting poll at his in Tehran. An overwhelming majority of Iranians voted in favour of a regime change from constitutional monarchy to an Islamic republic in a national referendum in March,1979. According to published records, 20,288,000 people voted "Yes" and 241,000 people voted "No". Ayatollah Khomeini's declaration that was published in Iranian newspaper officially announced the end of thousands of years of monarchy and start of a new era for all Iranians.Tehran-Iran 01/03/1979.