2016 Iran Parliament Election Friday February 26,2016

The 2016 Iran Parliament Election is scheduled to be held on Feb 26,2016 to elect members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly in all seats.

The 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly has 285 directly elected members and 5 seats reserved for the Zoroastrians,Jews,Assyrian and Chaldean Christians and Armenians

 

The 285 directly elected seats are elected from 196 constituencies, which are a mix of single and multi-member

In single-member constituencies candidates must received at least one-third of the votes in the first round. If no candidate passes this threshold, a second round is held with the two best-placed candidates

In multi-member constituencies, voters cast as many votes as there are seats available; candidates must receive votes from at least one-third of voters to be elected; if not all the seats are filled in the first round of voting, a second round will be held with double 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)

It will be the 10th parliamentary election in Islamic Republic era and 35th since Persian Constitutional Revolution

The elected candidates will serve from May 3, 2016 to May 3, 2020.

Voters must be Iranian citizens aged 18 or over, and not have been declared insane

There are 54,915,024 registered voters

More than 12,000 person were run for the election, which 6,230 of them (51.9%) were approved by Guardian Council

Iranians stand in line to cast their votes during elections for the parliament and Assembly of Experts, which has the power to appoint and dismiss the supreme leader, in Tehran February 26, 2016. 

Iranians went to the polls on Friday February 26,2016 in parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections, seen as a contest between hardliners entrenched in power and allies of pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani seeking to expand their influence.
 
"Voting has started in Iran. Millions of Iranians will vote all around the country," state TV said.

The 290-seat parliament vote will have scant impact on Iran's foreign policy, in which Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has the final say, but could strengthen Rouhani's hand before next year's presidential vote. The 88-member Assembly will select Khamenei's successor.

Both bodies are currently in the hands of hardliners

A pro-government coalition called "The List of Hope" is representing President Hassan Rouhani's ambitions in the polls

While MPs are elected for four years the assembly will be granted an eight-year term