At stake in this election:

• 290 seats in the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami)

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI *
• Head of Government: President Mohammad KHATAMI
• 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.

Description of electoral system:

• The Supreme Leader 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.***

*** Note: Changed from 270 seats with the 18 February 2000 election.

Main parties in the electoral race:

• Coalition: The 2nd Khordad Front (Reformers)
  • Leader: Mohammad Reza KHATAMI
• Party: The Followers of the Line of Imam and the Leader (Conservatives)
  • Leader: Mohammad Reza BAHONAR
• Party: Executives of Constuction (Centrists)
  • Leader: Hashemi Akbar RAF SANJANI

Last Parliamentary election:

• Parliamentary elections last held: March 8th and April 19th, 1996.
  Seats decided in the last election: 270

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 65,850,062 (2000)
• Registered Voters: 38,726,386 (2000)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 32,477,466 (2000)

·         Is Iran a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Iran ratified CEDAW: No

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: Yes

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 10 (following the 2000 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 69 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Iran a signatory to CRPD: No

·         Has Iran ratified CRPD: Yes, accession (23 Occtober 2009)

·         Population with a disability: 9,877,509 (est.)