IFES Election Guide - Country Profile: Iran

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Iran
Islamic Republic of Iran
Region: Middle East

Description of government structure:

Chief of State: Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Hoseini- KHAMENEI *
Head of Government: President Mahmoud AHMANDINEJAD **
Assembly: Iran has a unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami) with 290 seats.

* The Leader of the Islamic Revolution is appointed for life by the Assembly of Experts.

** President-elect Hassan ROUHANI will be inaugurated on August 3, 2013.

Description of electoral system:

The Leader of the Islamic Revolution is appointed.
The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
In the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami) 290 members are elected by qualified plurality vote to serve 4-year terms.***

*** District magnitudes range from one to six. Five of 290 seats are reserved to recognized religious minorities. The electoral system is based on the multiple non-transferable vote (i.e. voters have as many votes to cast as there are seats to fill in the respective constituency). The victory threshold for a candidate is 25 percent, however. If no candidate exceeds 25 percent of votes in the first round, a second-round election is held. Two-way ties are broken by lot. There are no clear provisions for breaking ties among three or more candidates.