1. Representation and Participation in the Islamic Republic of Iran

2. The Prerevolutionary Legacy
With the brief exception of the 1940s, between 1906 and 1979 competitive elections were rarely held.
In 1963 the Shah gave women the right to vote, an action that did not mean much as most elections were suspended during his reign.
Although most of the ulema (clergy) were opposed to extending suffrage to women, the mobilization of women in the Islamic Revolution was so important to the clerics that they did not renege on this.
Indeed the electorate was enlarged after the revolution by fixing the minimum voting age at 15.

3. Under the Shah, political parties were weak and ephemeral
Under the Shah, political parties were weak and ephemeral. After WWII, two groups established a lasting presence: the Communist Tudeh party and the nationalist National Front of Mossadeqh.
These parties were revived during the revolution, but were overshadowed by radical leftist or Islamist groups that emerged from the armed struggle with the Shah, such as the Marxist-Leninist Fedayin and the leftist Islamist Mojahedin.
Mehdi Bazargan was initially Prime Minister in 1979 enjoyed the support of the moderate Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI) but resigned with the hostage crisis.

4. In 1981 the National Front, Fedayin and Mojahedin were banned for advocating policies contradicting the basic premise of the Islamic Republic.
In 1983 the Tudeh party was disbanded after its leaders were jailed for supposedly having spied for the Soviet Union.
The LMI and Bazargan have continued to maintain a low-level of political activity within the country.
In summary, moderate and extremist secular parties were gradually removed from politics or rendered impotent during the early years of the Islamic Republic, thereby inhibiting democracy and assuring that there would be no challenge to the Islamic state.

5. Post-revolutionary Parties
In early 1979 a group of loyal followers of Khomeini, including Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ali Khamenei, founded a new party to work toward realization of an Islamic state: the Islamic Republican Party (IRP).
Soon, however, different factions crystallized within the IRP around differing social and political agendas (the conservative free-market faction and statist social reformer faction).
Factionalism rendered the party dysfunctional, so that in 1987 Rafsanjani and Khamenei announced the dissolution of the IRP with Khomeini’s consent.

6. Factionalism, however, did not go away
Factionalism, however, did not go away. Tensions came out again in 1988 when the Society of Militant Clergy, a pro-Velayat-e faqih group, split in two, when Muhammad Khatami left to form the reform minded, Association of Militant Clerics.
As long as Khomeini was alive, he acted as the ultimate arbiter among the factions, but after his death in 1989, political disagreements broke out into the open.
Political liberalization, linked to the election of Khatami to the presidency, resulted in a number of new political parties appearing, but most were personalistic parties with no grassroots support

7. Presidential Elections
Presidential elections are held every four years with candidates vetted by the Guardian Council. If no candidate wins over 50% of the vote, a runoff election is held.
In January 1980 Iran held its first ever presidential election, resulting in the victory of an Islamist, Abolhasan Bani-Sadr. But Bani-Sadr was impeached and deposed by Khomeini in 1981.
His more pliant successor, Muhammad Ali Rajai was killed two months later by a bomb attack attributed to leftist opponents and justifying a violent crackdown on leftist parties.

8. The next four elections had predictable results: Close companions of Khomeini won presidential elections (Khamenei in 1981 & 1985 and Rafsanjani in 1989 and 1993).
Rafsanjani could not run because the Constitution provides for one immediate reelection. (two-term presidents can run again after a one-term interval)
The moderate Khatami, reaching out to a wide spectrum of society, won a landslide victory in the 1997 election. He was supported by a wide coalition of reform parties named the Khordad Front.
While Khatami’s reform programs dwindled in 1999, he was easily reelected in 2001.

9. For the first time since 1981, there was no official government candidate in the 2005 presidential elections. Three allies of Khatami, four conservatives, and Rafsanjani ran for president.
No candidate having gained a majority, there was a second round, run-off election pitting Rafsanjani against the arch-conservative mayor of Tehran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who won an upset victory amid allegations that Revolutionary Guards had illegally urged troops to vote for him and perhaps stuffed ballot boxes.
Ahmadinejad’s message appealed to the poor but subsequently he did not deliver on his promises.

10. The 2009 election was marred by controversy
The 2009 election was marred by controversy. Ahmadinejad was opposed by two reformists: Mir Hussein Moussavi, a former Prime Minister and cleric, Mehdi Karroubi. They criticized the poor economic performance of the administration.
Two days after the election, Khamenei and the Guardian Council confirmed Ahmadinejad had won, sparking massive street protests against voter fraud.
Khamenei blamed protests on incitement by foreign embassies/foreign press, and directed a severe crackdown leading to violence by the Basij (militia).
The election revealed a deep divide in the clerical leadership and the strength of the Pasdaran/Basij.

11. 2013 Presidential Election
The Guardian Council vetted candidates and only 6 ended up running out of 678 hopefuls. Four were conservatives and two reform candidates of which most prominent was the former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani, the only cleric in the race.
Iranians initially seemed disinterested in the election due to the fraudulent nature of the 2009 election but became more enthusiastic as Rouhani expressed criticism of the Ahmadinejad administration.
On June 15 a reported 72% of eligible voters turned out. Rouhani won a reported 50.71% of the vote with the next closest candidate getting only 16.56%

12. Seven presidents of the Islamic Republic of Iran:  
Abolhassan Bani-Sadr ( ) Left-leaning Islamic activist ousted by Khomeini.
Muhammad Ali Rajai ( ) Assassinated 1981
Ali Khamenei ( ) Became Supreme Leader
Hashemi Rafsanjani ( )Economic reformer-cleric. Current Chairman of the Expediency Council.
Mohammad Khatami ( ) Liberal minded cleric whose reform movement was thwarted.
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad ( ) Nationalist conservative who failed to improve Iran’s economy.
Hassan Rouhani (2013-Present) Seems progressive

13. Parliamentary Elections
For the purpose of elections of the Majles or Islamic Consultative Assembly, Iran is divided into both single and multimember constituencies, the largest being Tehran with thirty MPs.
Each voter can write down the names of as many candidates as there are seats in a constituency. The top vote-getters in each constituency is elected provided they receive at least 25% of the vote. Otherwise they compete in a run-off election.
According to an article in “The New York Times,” there are no real political parties in Iran, only murky, shifting alliances of political figures.”

14. In the first legislative election of 1980, a few National Front, Liberation Movement of Iran (LMI) and regional candidates were elected to the Majles.
Since 1984 only candidates committed to Velayat-e faqih have been allowed to run.
Radicals formed the majority of the second ( ) and third Parliaments ( ).
After Khomeini’s death, the conservative-dominated Guardian Council invalidated the candidacies of most radicals. As a result, conservatives have dominated the fourth and fifth Parliaments ( ) with pragmatist supporters of Rafsanjani forming a minority.

15. In 2004, the Guardian Council disallowed over 2500 reformist candidates which was unprecedented. Still about 50% of the population went to the polls as rural voters judge candidates by how they may further their interests not by ideology.
In the 2008 parliamentary elections, the Guardian Council again disqualified many of the leading opposition candidates. Reformers claimed that their candidates could run in less than half the races. The result of the election was an ostensible victory for the conservatives, but they faced a powerful bloc of supporters turned critics of Ahmadinejad’s failed economic policies.

16. Elections for the 9th Majlis were held on March 2, 2012 with a second round on May 4. Over 5,000 candidates registered but more than a third were disqualified by the Guardian Council, leaving 3,400 candidates to run for 290 seats. Government officials reported turnout to be high.
The election was characterized by foreign journalists as a contest between the Supreme Leader and President with Khamenei’s supporters winning the majority of seats. Iranian media described the election as a sign of Iranians' trust in the Islamic Republic and a message to the West rejecting pressure over Iran's nuclear program.

17. Elections for the 10th Majlis were held on February 26, 2016 and run-off elections on April 29. The election coincided with an election of the Assembly of Experts. (see articles for details)
Of 12,000 persons who applied to run for the Majlis, 5,200 candidates, mostly Reformists, were rejected by the Guardian Council. Despite this, the Principalists (conservatives) who previously dominated the Majlis, were dealt a blow, losing their majority to Reformist and Independents. The election has been viewed as a referendum on President Rouhani’s initiatives in the nuclear deal and market opening. Reformists also made some smaller gains in the Assembly of Experts election.