Iranian legislative election, 2016

Last updated
Iranian legislative election, 2016
Flag of Iran.svg
  2012 26 February and 29 April 20162020 

All 290 seats to the Islamic Consultative Assembly
146 seats are needed for a majority
Turnout 62% (first round) [1]
59% (second round) [2]

  Mohammad-Reza Aref cropped.jpg Haddad Adel cropped.jpg Ali Motahari.jpg
Leader Mohammad Reza Aref Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel Ali Motahari
Alliance List of Hope Principlists Grand Coalition People's Voice Coalition
Leader since201620162012
Leader's seat Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
(defeated)
Tehran, Rey, Shemiranat and Eslamshahr
Last electionNewNew1
Seats won121 [3] [lower-alpha 1] 83 [3] [lower-alpha 2] 11 [3] [lower-alpha 2]
Seat changeSteady2.svgSteady2.svgIncrease2.svg 10
Percentage41.72%28.62%3.79%

Islamic Consultative Assembly seating.svg
  • Seats won by each list:
  •   Hope
  •   Principlists
  •   People's Voice
  •   Religious minorities
  •   Other lists and Independents

Speaker before election

Ali Larijani
UFP

Elected Speaker

Ali Larijani
List of Hope

Parliamentary elections were held in Iran on 26 February 2016 to elect members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly for all seats in the 10th parliament in the Islamic Republic era and the 34th since the Persian Constitutional Revolution. A second round was held on 29 April 2016 for some constituencies where candidates failed to obtain the required minimum 25 percent of votes cast. [4] The elected MPs will serve from May 28, 2016 to May 27, 2020.

Iran Country in Western Asia

Iran, also called Persia, and officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a country in Western Asia. With over 81 million inhabitants, Iran is the world's 18th most populous country. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2 (636,372 sq mi), it is the second largest country in the Middle East and the 17th largest in the world. Iran is bordered to the northwest by Armenia and the Republic of Azerbaijan, to the north by the Caspian Sea, to the northeast by Turkmenistan, to the east by Afghanistan and Pakistan, to the south by the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman, and to the west by Turkey and Iraq. The country's central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, give it geostrategic importance. Tehran is the country's capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center.

Islamic Consultative Assembly national legislative body of Iran

The Islamic Consultative Assembly, also called the Iranian Parliament, the Iranian Majles, is the national legislative body of Iran. The Parliament currently has 290 representatives, changed from the previous 272 seats since the 18 February 2000 election. The most recent election took place on 26 February 2016 and the new parliament was opened on 28 May 2016.

The 10th Islamic Consultative Assembly is the 34th and current Parliament of Iran that commenced on 28 May 2016 following the legislative elections on 26 February and 29 April 2016.

Contents

The election was held as part of a general election which also elected members of the Assembly of Experts. [5] This election was the first time that both bodies were elected simultaneously.

Assembly of Experts

The Assembly of Experts —also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts— is the deliberative body empowered to designate and dismiss the Supreme Leader of Iran. However all directly-elected members after the vetting process by the Guardian Council still have to be approved by the Supreme Leader of Iran before gaining membership to the Assembly of Experts.

There were 54,915,024 registered voters (in Iran, the voting age is 18). More than 12,000 people filed to run for office. [6] Nomination of 5,200 of candidates, mostly Reformists, [6] were rejected by the Guardian Council and 612 individuals withdrew.

A voting age is a minimum age established by law that a person must attain before they become eligible to vote in a public election. Today, the most common voting age is 18 years; however, voting ages as low as 16 and as high as 25 currently exist. Most countries have set a minimum voting age, often set in their constitution. In a number of countries voting is compulsory for those eligible to vote, while in most it is optional.

Guardian Council appointed and constitutionally-mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in Iran

The Guardian Council of the Constitution is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Electoral system

The 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly has 285 directly elected members and five seats reserved for the Zoroastrians, Jews, Assyrian and Chaldean Christians and Armenians (one for Armenians in the north of Iran and one for Armenians in the south). [7]

Zoroastrians in Iran

Zoroastrians are the oldest religious community of Iran. Prior to the Muslim conquest of Persia, Zoroastrianism was the primary religion of the nation. It originated from the pre-Zoroastrian Religion of Iran, Iranic paganism.

Persian Jews

Persian Jews or Iranian Jews are Jews historically associated with the Persian Empire, whose successor state is Iran. The Biblical Book of Esther contains references to the experiences of the Jews in Persia. Jews have had a continuous presence in Iran since the time of Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid Empire. Cyrus invaded Babylon and freed the Jews from Babylonian captivity.

Iranian Armenians Ethnic group

Iranian-Armenians also known as Persian-Armenians, are Iranians of Armenian ethnicity who may speak Armenian as their first language. Estimates of their number in Iran range from 70,000 to 200,000. Areas with a high concentration of them include Tabriz, Tehran and Isfahan's Jolfa quarter.

The 285 directly elected seats are elected from 196 constituencies, which are a mix of single and multi-member. In single-member constituencies candidates must receive at least one-fourth of the votes in the first round. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round is held with the two highest-vote candidates. In multi-member constituencies, voters cast as many votes as there are seats available; candidates must receive votes from at least one-fourth of the voters to be elected; if not all the seats are filled in the first round of voting, a second round is held with twice the number of candidates as there are seats to be filled (or all the original candidates if there are fewer than double the number of seats). [7]

Voters must be Iranian citizens aged 18 or over, and shall not have been declared insane.

Qualifications

According to Iranian law, in order to qualify as a candidate one must: [7]

A candidate will be disqualified if he/she is found to be mentally impaired, actively supporting the Shah or supporting political parties and organizations deemed illegal or been charged with anti-government activity, converted to another faith or has otherwise renounced the Islamic faith, have been found guilty of corruption, treason, fraud, bribery, is an addict or trafficker or have been found guilty of violating Sharia law. [7] Also, candidates must be literate; candidates cannot have played a role in the pre-1979 government, be large landowners, drug addicts or have convictions relating to actions against the state or apostasy. Government ministers, members of the Guardian Council and High Judicial Council are banned from running for office, as is the Head of the Administrative Court of Justice, the Head of General Inspection, some civil servants and religious leaders and any member of the armed forces. [7]

Campaigns and voting

Pervasive Coalition of Reformists convention, 20 January 2016 Reformists' Coalition 2016 convention.jpg
Pervasive Coalition of Reformists convention, 20 January 2016

The conservative camp also known as principlists, consisting of various groups, held the majority of the parliament. The camp spent months bringing together their various wings and formed the “ Principlists Grand Coalition ”, headed by former speaker of the parliament Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel. [8] The coalition included traditional conservative organizations most notably the Combatant Clergy Association, [9] conservatives close to ex-president Ahmadinejad –who some worked under the name of YEKTA Front [9] and hardline conservatives largely opposed to the government's policies, like the Stability Front. Campaigning on "government's failure to deliver on promises of economic benefits from the nuclear deal, Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, and the lifting of sanctions"; they emphasized their economic backgrounds. On foreign policy, they were against "allowing American influence to permeate Iranian society and economy". [8]

Principlists Grand Coalition's candidates for Tehran meeting with Ali Movahedi-Kermani, Secretary-General of Combatant Clergy Association Principlists Coalition meets Movahedi Kermani.jpg
Principlists Grand Coalition's candidates for Tehran meeting with Ali Movahedi-Kermani, Secretary-General of Combatant Clergy Association

The incumbent speaker Ali Larijani, declined to join the bloc because "they have not provided the necessary mechanisms for the creation of unity" and said he will run independently. [8]

Ali Motahari speaking in PV's convention Ali Motahari in People's Voice convention.jpg
Ali Motahari speaking in PV's convention

The reformists and moderates, centrist allies of President Rouhani, made the “Alliance of Reformists and Government Supporters” or as the reformists named it, the “ Pervasive Coalition of Reformists: The Second Step ”, a name suggesting a sequel to the first step, 2013 presidential election victory. [8] The coalition was headed by Mohammad Reza Aref and included pro-government moderate conservatives who were on the Followers of Wilayat fraction of Ali Larijani's companions, [9] [10] and aimed to prevent the hardliners from entering the parliament. [10] Larijani himself was also backed by the list. [9] Mohammad Khatami, who renamed the coalition to the “List of Hope” and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani endorsed the list, alongside Hassan Rouhani who tacitly supported them by sending text message to every cell phone encouraging citizens to “to build the future of the country with plenty of hope”. [8] The moderates faced considerable challenges in the Guardian Council’s vetting process and many of their lead figures were disqualified. [11]

Ali Motahari, who was on the List of Hope, decided to issue another list called “ People's Voice ” which was mostly made up by moderate conservatives. [8]

Among opposition parties, National Front, Nation Party and Pan-Iranist Party boycotted the elections. [12] Freedom Movement of Iran called on voters to cast their ballots and backed reformists. [13]

Ali Khamenei, Supreme leader of Iran, voted on the beginning of election day. He had no comment on the result of the election but asked people for high turnout in election. [14]

Opinion polls

Which political group is best able to solve the problems of Iran? (iPOS results) [15]

   Reformists (19%)
  "Moderates"/"Centrists" (5%)
   Principlists (9%)
  All groups (4%)
  Other groups (3%)
  No group (9%)
  Don't know/No comment (51%)

Which political group is more aligned with your views? (iPOS results) [15]

   Reformists (20%)
  "Moderates"/"Centrists" (5%)
   Principlists (12%)
  All groups (2%)
  Other groups (6%)
  No group (11%)
  Don't know/No comment (44%)

According to a poll conducted on 18 February 2016 with a ±4% margin of sampling error voters favor supporters of Hassan Rouhani among other politicians:

Which figure's sympathizers would you rather to enter the Parliament? [17]
PreferredPercentage
Hassan Rouhani
41(%)
Mohammad Khatami
21(%)
Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel
13(%)
Ali Larijani
8(%)
Saeed Jalili
4(%)
  • A Survey by Iranian Students' Polling Agency (ISPA) on 22–23 February 2016 in 22 regions of Tehran, shows that 30.5% of voters will vote for Pervasive Coalition of Reformists, while 24.2% and 8.7% favor to vote for Principlists Coalition and People's Voice Coalition respectively. 22.2% prefer to vote for candidates from all lists and 13.2% don't care about lists. [18]
  • Virginia-based Public Opinion Solutions LLC (iPOS)'s poll conducted on 1–20 February 2016 via telephone interviews of 1184 Iranian adults aged 18 and older, shows a 75% and 73% tornout for the Parliamentary and the Assembly of Experts elections respectively. In Tehran, the number would be predicted between 55% and 65%. [15]

Only 30% of the voters are satisfied with their incumbent representative in the Parliament, with 28% satisfied with the overall performance of the 9th term of Majlis (2012–2016) while 43% are unsatisfied. With the rise of Hassan Rouhani's presidential approval ratings from 54% in August/September 2015 to 67% in December 2015/January 2016, more than 40% undecided voters and some 25% approval of Reformists and Moderates –that are allied under the name of Pervasive Coalition of Reformists– there is a chance of swing towards them. [15]

MPs elected

Results

The results indicate that the results would make a hung parliament with reformists having a plurality. [19] The final results are:

AllianceSeats
NameOf total
List of Hope 119 [19] 41.03%
119 / 290
Principlists Grand Coalition 84 [19] 28.96%
83 / 290
People's Voice Coalition 10 [19] 3.44%
11 / 290
Independents
Minor lists:
Front of Prudence and Development
65 [19] 22.41%
65 / 290
Endorsed by both Principlists Grand Coalition and List of Hope 3 [19] 1.03%
3 / 290
Religious minorities (reserved seats)5 [19] 1.73%
5 / 290
119108475
List of HopePeople's VoicePrinciplistsOthers

Four seats are vacant.

See also

Related Research Articles

Ali Larijani Iranian philosopher, politician

Ali Larijani is an Iranian conservative politician, philosopher and former military officer who has been Speaker of the Parliament of Iran since 2008. Larijani was the Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council from 15 August 2005 to 20 October 2007, appointed to the position by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, replacing Hassan Rouhani. Acceptance of Larijani's resignation from the secretary position was announced on 20 October 2007 by Gholamhossein Elham, the Iranian government's spokesman, mentioning that his previous resignations were turned down by President Ahmadinejad.

Principlists Pervasive Coalition

Principlists Pervasive Coalition was one of two main principlist coalitions for the Iranian legislative election, 2008, alongside the United Front of Principlists. Candidates endorsed by the coalition were close to Ali Larijani, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Mohsen Rezaee.

2013 Iranian presidential election election

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Peoples Voice (Iran)

The People's Voice, Nation's Voice or Voice of Nation Coalition was an electoral list for Iranian 2012 and 2016 legislative elections, led by Ali Motahari.

Assembly of Experts election were held in Iran on 26 February 2016 to elect Assembly of Experts members. The 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, known as mujtahids, are directly elected. The elections had been planned for 2014, but were delayed by a year in order to hold them alongside the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections.

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Peoples Experts

People's Experts is an electoral list published by former Iranian President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani to compete against the conservative Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom in the Iranian Assembly of Experts election, 2016.

Pervasive Coalition of Reformists coalition and electoral list affiliated with the Iranian reform movement

Pervasive Coalition of Reformists: The Second Step, named The List of Hope by Mohammad Khatami, was the sole coalition and electoral list affiliated with the Iranian reform movement for the 2016 legislative election. The group also endorsed candidates for the 2016 Assembly of Experts election. Reformists backed a list of 236 candidates for the Parliament and 77 for the Assembly of Experts, even though many of them are not reformists but moderate-leaning figures.

Followers of Wilayat is an influential principlist parliamentary group active during the 9th term of Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly (2012–2016). Led by Ali Larijani, the fraction intended to become an official political party in 2015 to compete in the 2016 legislative election, however it did not happen and its key members allied with the Pervasive Coalition of Reformists.

Elaheh Rastgou Iranian politician

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Front of Prudence and Development

Front of Prudence and Development of Islamic Iran is the alliance of five Iranian minor political groups that issued electoral list for the 2016 legislative elections.

Qom (electoral district)

Qom is the sole constituency of Qom Province for the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

Qom Province is a religious and politically conservative place, with most voters supportive of the principlist tendency.

Qasem Ravanbakhsh is an Iranian Shia cleric, conservative politician and journalist. He is editor-in-chief of Partow-e Sokhan and a leading member of Front of Islamic Revolution Stability.

An election to the Islamic City Council of Tehran took place on 19 May 2017, along with the local elections nationwide.

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References

  1. Including Minoo Khaleghi, Khaled Zamzamnejad and Beytollah Abdollahi who did not take office by the Guardian council decision.
  2. 1 2 By decree of Guardian council, Principlists Grand Coalition candidate Mohammad Esmaeil Saeidi replaced Alireza Monadi Sefidan of People's Voice in Tabriz, Osku and Azarshahr.
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