Assembly of Experts
The Assembly of Experts (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, romanized: majles-e khobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran.[2][3] All directly elected members must first be vetted by the Guardian Council.
For the 4th constituent assembly in Iran, see Assembly of Experts for Constitution.
Assembly of Experts
since 21 May 2024
since 21 May 2024
since 21 May 2024
88 (2 vacant)
8 years[1]
Multi-seat districts: Plurality-at-large voting
Single-seat districts: First-past-the-post voting[1]
All candidates to the Assembly of Experts must be approved by the Guardian Council whose members are, in turn, appointed either directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader.[4] The Assembly consists of 88 Mujtahids that are elected[5][6] from lists of thoroughly vetted candidates (in 2016 166 candidates were approved by the Guardians out of 801 who applied to run for the office),[7] by direct public vote for eight-year terms.[8] The number of members has ranged from 82 elected in 1982 to 88 elected in 2016. Current laws require the assembly to meet at least twice every six months.[9][10]
Assemblies[edit]
First Assembly (1983–1991)[edit]
The first elections for the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership were held in December 1982 and the Assembly first convened in 1983. 76 of the total of 83 members were elected in the first round, the rest in the second. The full list of members and election results is available on the Princeton Iran Data Portal.[29]
As a number of members died, by-elections for replacement candidates were held in April 1988.
The Assembly was chaired throughout the term by Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, who chaired the Assembly also in subsequent terms until 2007.
In 1985, the Assembly chose Ayatollah Montazeri as the successor to Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Khomeini. But on Sunday, 26 March 1989 Khomeini dismissed him in a letter: "[...]you are no longer eligible to succeed me as the legitimate leader of the state."[30] Following the death of Ruhollah Khomeini on 3 June 1989, the Assembly of Experts chose Ali Khamenei to be his successor as Supreme Leader in what proved to be a smooth transition.[31] Initially, a council of three members, "Ali Meshkini, Mousavi Ardabili and Ali Khamenei", were proposed for Leadership. After rejection of a Leadership Council by the assembly, and lack of votes for Grand Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Golpaygani, Khamenei became the Supreme Leader by two-thirds of the votes.[32][33]
Second Assembly (1991–1999)[edit]
The Second Assembly was also chaired by Ayatollah Ali Meshkini. The full list of members and election results is available on the Princeton Iran Data Portal.[34] Sayed Mohammad Fagheh was one of the members from the province Neyriz Fars.
Third Assembly (1999–2007)[edit]
The 3rd assembly was again chaired by Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, deputied by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini. The scribes were former Minister of Intelligence Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi and Ahmad Khatami. The members according to each province were:[35][36]
Authority[edit]
The Assembly has never dismissed or even questioned the Supreme Leader.[43] Due to Ali Khamenei's lengthy, unchallenged reign, many believe that the Assembly of Experts has become a ceremonial body without any real power.[44][45][46][47] Iran's then-Chief Justice Sadeq Larijani, a Khamenei appointee, has stated that it is illegal for the Assembly of Experts to supervise Khamenei.[48]
There have been instances when the current Supreme Leader's public criticism of members of the Assembly of Experts was followed by their arrest and dismissal. For example, Khamenei publicly called member of the Assembly of Experts Ahmad Azari Qomi a traitor, resulting in Qomi's arrest and eventual dismissal from the Assembly of Experts. Another instance is when Khamenei indirectly called the late Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani a traitor for a statement he made, causing Rafsanjani to retract it.[49] Mehdi Karroubi, who has been under house arrest since 2011 without trial, by the direct order of Khamenei, said that "the Assembly of Experts, a council of elected clerics charged with electing, supervising and even disqualifying the Supreme Leader, has turned into a ceremonial council that only praises the Leader".[50][51][52]