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By Farnaz Fassihi
Why is this choice important?
Are Iran’s elections sluggish?
Who is a candidate for Parliament?
When will we know the result?
Who will win?
Where can I get more information?
Iran will hold parliamentary elections on Friday, the first general vote since a women- and girls-led uprising that swept the country in 2022, calling for an end to the Islamic Republic’s rule. The government has violently suppressed the protests, but demands to replace persist and many Iranians see the boycott of the vote as an act of protest.
Voter turnout in the election is expected to be low, especially in the capital, Tehran, and other primary cities, according to the government’s own polls cited in Iranian media. The election is vital because voter turnout is felt by both supporters and critics of the government as a barometer of legitimacy. Opponents say they would not possibly vote to represent that meaningful substitution can no longer be made through the ballot box in the existing system.
Separate elections will be held on Friday to elect members of an 88-seat group called the Assembly of Experts. Iran’s charter calls for the meeting to decide who is the ideal leader, the ultimate devout authority, who has the final say on all key issues of the state and serves as commander-in-chief of the armed forces. The meeting is also intended to be an advisory framework to the supreme leader and can oversee or remove him, it never has.
The current ideal leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is 84 years old and has held the post for more than three decades. It is widely expected that his successor will be announced at the next meeting.
Elections in Iran are not considered free and fair, according to critics and human rights groups, because of the murky candidate selection procedure and mass disqualifications by the Guardian Council. The Council is accused of holding elections, whether presidential or parliamentary, because it deprives the public of any details of selection and limits its selection to those candidates it deems fit to run for office.
Iran’s elections were once competitive, with candidates from all primary political parties in attendance. The effects were unpredictable and participation was high. But in recent years, the electorate has only had one choice among conservative candidates.
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