Iran's Assembly of Experts: Elections and functions
3 Min Read
On Friday, March 1, 2024, general elections will be held in Iran in which voters will elect the members of the Assembly of Experts for the Leadership for the 6th term.
-
A woman distributes electoral leaflets of a group of candidates for the March 1 election of Assembly of Experts in Tehran, Iran, Friday, February 23, 2024. (AP)
The Assembly of Experts in Iran, to be elected on March 1, plays a vital role in the country as per the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, its role is to appoint and dismiss Iran's Leader as well as to monitor the latter's term.
Article 107 of the Iranian Constitution states that the Assembly of Experts bears the responsibility of appointing a replacement for the Leader in cases of death, resignation, or dismissal. Article 111 completes the latter by highlighting the Assembly's role in removing the Leader in case it is confident that he failed in fulfilling his role.
The Leader of the Revolution and Islamic Republic of Iran is responsible for overseeing the general policy in Iran and declaring cases of war, peace, and general mobilization. The Leader is also the Commander-in-Chief of the Iranian Armed Forces.
Sayyed Ali Khamenei, 84, has been the Leader of the Revolution and Islamic Republic of Iran since 1989, as he took over after the founder of the Islamic Republic, Imam Khomeini.
After Imam Khomeini passed away, the responsibility of assigning the Leader was given to the members of the Assembly of Experts who have always been elected by the people of Iran.
A deeper dive into the elections process
The people of every Iranian province elect their own representative in the Assembly through a direct popular vote. In case the province's population exceeds 1 million people, the latter gets to elect an extra representative for every 500,000 people.
The Assembly of Experts, initially founded in 1983, is constituted of, a leadership council, a general secretariat, an investigative council, and special committees. Its total number of members amounts to 88, each elected for a term of 8 years.
On November 5 last year, it became viable to submit candidacy applications in which 144 out of 501 applicants had their applications approved by the Guardian Council.
The Guardian Council, formed of 12 members, votes on the eligibility of the election candidates before the popular electoral vote.
The History of the Assembly's Leadership
Ever since the Assembly of Experts was founded, several prominent figures have chaired it in chronological order, Hussein-Ali Montazeri, Mohammad Beheshti, and Ali Meshkini, who was elected for three consecutive terms. Following the latter, Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani, Mahmoud al-Hashemi Shahroudi, Muhammad Yazdi, and Ahmad Jannati who serves as the current chair of the Assembly, chaired the assembly.
Sayyed Ali Khamenei called upon the Iranian people to partake in the elections, urging "influential individuals" to encourage people to vote.
