Double election on March 1 in Iran

On March 1, 2024, Iranians are called to the polls to elect both the representatives of the Assembly of Experts, a key body responsible for appointing the supreme leader, but also their deputies with legislative elections.

We often forget it, but Iran is an Islamic Republic, which means that all of Iran’s institutions and activities are based on the principles of Koranic law, and therefore on religion.

In 15 days, on March 1, Iranians will elect two chambers. The first is called the Assembly of Experts, it is made up of 86 religious people elected for 8 years who have, in particular, the mission of appointing the Supreme Guide, the highest authority in the Republic. The campaign for this election by universal suffrage began on Wednesday February 14, 15 days before the election.

The second campaign will begin the week of February 19, 2024. Its aim is to elect the 290 deputies of Parliament. They will be elected for 4 years by universal suffrage? These deputies are supervised by a “Council of Guardians of the Constitution” which approves or opposes the resolutions of the Assembly.

What must be remembered is that in all cases power is organized in such a way that upon arrival it is the religious people who have the last word in the country.

Not all suitors can necessarily present themselves

On paper, all Iranians over the age of 15 can participate in the election. This is how there are 500 candidates at the start of the process, but to be eligible you have to go through an approval protocol led by the Council of Guardians, which is a kind of Constitutional Council, which is also led by religious people. Result, out of the 500 initial candidates, only 144 are authorized to present themselves.

Rather, these are pro-regime candidates in line with the conservative government. To illustrate this relative freedom to run, former President Rouhani, who has been very critical for several years, was not allowed to run this year.

What are the issues for these elections?

In Iran, whatever happens, the winners are always the clerics and the mullahs. But this year, there is a special feature.

These are the first national elections since the vast Women, Life, Freedom protest movement which shook Iran after the death in September 2022 of Mahsa Amini, this young 22-year-old Kurd who died after being arrested for non-compliance with strict country dress code.

These are also the first national elections since Narges Mohammadi was awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for his courageous fight for freedom and human rights in Iran.

On March 1st, there is one figure that we will have to look at carefully, if it is not tampered with, that of participation. 4 years ago, only 42% of Iranians came to vote. We can imagine that this year, as a protest, there will be even fewer of them doing so.