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Legislative elections were held inIran on 1 March 2024 for the first round, and on 10 May 2024 for the second round.
They were held four years after the previouselection in 2020.[2] The election had a preregistration for the first time as a result of a 2023 law.[3]Elections to the Assembly of Experts took place concurrently with the legislative elections.
The elections had most moderate and reformist figures disqualified from polls. Additionally, there was a historic low voter turnout of 41%, with 5% of the ballots cast being deemed "invalid".[4]
The 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly consists of 285 directly elected members and five seats reserved for theZoroastrians,Jews,Assyrians andArmenians (one for Armenians in the north of Iran and one for Armenians in the south).[5] The 285 directly elected seats were elected from 196 single and multi-member constituencies. In single-member constituencies, candidates had to receive at least 20% of the vote in the first round to be elected; in cases where no candidate passed the threshold, a second round is held between the top two candidates. In multi-member constituencies, voters cast as many votes as there are seats available; if not all seats are filled by candidates with at least 20% of the vote, a second round is held with twice the number of candidates as there are seats to be filled (or all the original candidates if there are fewer than double the number of seats).[5]
As with the previous election, in order to qualify to stand as a candidate in the election, in accordance with Iranian laws, a candidate must:[5]
A candidate will be disqualified if he/she is found to be mentally impaired, actively supporting theShah or supporting political parties and organizations deemed illegal or been charged with anti-government activity, converted to another faith or has otherwise renounced the Islamic faith, have been found guilty of corruption, treason, fraud, bribery, is an addict or trafficker or have been found guilty of violatingSharia law.[5] Also, candidates must be literate; candidates cannot have played a role in the pre-1979 government, be large landowners, drug addicts or have convictions relating to actions against the state or apostasy. Government ministers, members of theGuardian Council andHigh Judicial Council are banned from running for office, as is the Head of the Administrative Court of Justice, the Head ofGeneral Inspection, some civil servants and religious leaders and any member of the armed forces.[5]
Preregistration was held for seven days.[when?] A record-breaking 48,847 people registered as candidates in the election, who were then vetted by theGuardian Council to run for election.[6][7][8][9][10] Of these candidates, 75% were below the age of 50.[11] About 15,200 received final approval to run for office, with reformists believed to constitute between 20 and 30 percent of them.[12] The candidates also included 1,713 women, which was more than double the number who competed in the last election, at 819.[13]
Candidates in the first round and in the second round had only one week to publicly campaign, from 22 February until 29 February and from 2 May 2024 to 9 May 2024 respectively.[14]
A former minister of intelligence predicted that turnout may be low as the population may distance themselves from the election due torecent protests.[15] A survey released by the state-owned polling center ISPA on 29 February expected a turnout of 38.5 percent nationwide and 23.5 percent inTehran.[16] Actual turnout was at 41 percent, equivalent to about 25 million voters and the lowest since theIslamic Revolution of 1979.[17] About five percent of ballots cast were also declared "invalid".[4]
Prior to the vote, the newspaperKayhan claimed that theNational Trust Party and theExecutives of Construction Party had signed up for the election. In a report, theIslamic Coalition Party invited people to vote.[18][19] Supreme Leader AyatollahAli Khamenei urged for a strong turnout, saying that "it is important to show the world that the nation is mobilised," and that "the enemies of Iran want to see if the people are present."Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanderHossein Salami also urged people to participate, saying that "every vote is like a missile that is fired into the heart of our strongest enemies".[20] PresidentEbrahim Raisi urged the public to make the elections “a glorious day for the Iranian nation.”[21] In what was seen as an effort to boost turnout, members of theIranian police were given four days of incentive leave to cast their vote.[22]
President Ebrahim Raisi praised the considerably low turnout as an 'extreme blow' to opponents of the Islamic Republic. However,Azar Mansouri, the head of theReform Front coalition of parties that boycotted the elections, called for authorities to heed the voice of the silent majority and urged changes to the governance method.[4]
About 275 prominent activists and civil society representatives called for a boycott of the election, citing the "disgraceful" state of the electoral system and the "complete elimination of opponents."[23] Among them was imprisonedNobel Peace Prize laureate and women's rights activistNarges Mohammadi, who called the vote a "sham".[16] TheReform Front also described the vote as "meaningless, non-competitive and ineffective", while former PresidentMohammad Khatami said that Iran was "very far from free and competitive elections".[20] InWest Azerbaijan province, 50 activists were arrested for calling for a boycott of the election on social media.[22] Former presidentHassan Rouhani, who was disqualified from running in theAssembly of Experts after being a member for 24 years, urged for a "protest vote" but did not explicitly call for a boycott.[24]
During the first round, polls opened at 08:00 local time in 59,000 precincts across the country and were initially set to run for ten hours before being extended until midnight. Electronic voting was scheduled to be held in 1,700 polling stations across four constituencies. TheInterior Ministry deployed 250,000 security personnel to ensure the conduct of the elections amid tighter scrutiny in the aftermath of the2024 Kerman bombings.[25][26][27] For the second round, polling was held in 22 constituencies with 90 candidates seeking to fill 45 seats in parliament. Sixteen of the contested seats were inTehran, with 32 candidates seeking positions there.[28]
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Initial results revealed that a second round was required for 45 seats in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, in a total of 15 provinces,[17] including the constituency regroupingTehran,Ray,Shemiran,Eslamshahr andPardis, which amount to thirty seats, among which 14 were filled in the first round.[4][29] The second round was held on 10 May.[30]
| Party | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Coalition Council of Islamic Revolution Forces | |||
| Front of Islamic Revolution Stability | |||
| Voice of the Nation | |||
| Combatant Clergy Association | |||
| Independents | |||
| Seats reserved for religious minorities | |||
| Total | |||
| Registered voters/turnout | 61,172,298 | – | |
| Source:Isna | |||
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