Columbia International Affairs Online: Case Studies

6- The Legislative Power
6.1-The Islamic Consultative Assembly

Article 62

The Islamic consultative Assembly is constituted by the representatives of the people elected directly and by secret ballot. The qualifications of voters and candidates, as well as the nature of election, will be specified by law.
 

Article 64

There are to be two hundred seventy members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly which, keeping in view the human, political, geographic and other similar factors, may increase by not more than twenty for each ten-year period from the date of the national referendum of the year 1368 of the solar Islamic calendar. The Zoroastrians and Jews will each elect one representative; Assyrian and Chaldean Christians will jointly elect one representative; and Armenian Christians in the north and those in the south of the country will each elect one representative. The limits of the election constituencies and the number of representatives will be deter-mined by law.
 

Article 65

After the holding of elections, sessions of the Islamic Consultative Assembly are considered legally valid when two-thirds of the total number of members are present. Drafts and bills will be approved in accordance with the code of procedure approved by it, except in cases where the Constitution has specified a certain quorum. The consent of two-thirds of all members present is necessary for the approve of the code of procedure of the Assembly.
 

Article 66

The manner of election of the Speaker and the Presiding Board of the Assembly, the number of committees and their term of office, and matters related to conducting the discussions and maintaining the discipline of the Assembly will be determined by the code of procedure of the Assembly.
 

Article 67

Members of the Assembly must take the following oath at the first session of the Assembly and affix their signatures to its text:

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful. In the presence of the Glorious Qur'an, I swear by God, the Exalted and Almighty, and undertake, swearing by my own honor as a human being, to protect the sanctity of Islam and guard the accomplishments of the Islamic Revolution of the Iranian people and the foundations of the Islamic Republic; to protect, as a just trustee, the honor bestowed upon me by the people, to observe piety in fulfilling my duties as people's representative;  to remain always committed to the independence and honor of the country; to fulfil my duties towards the nation and the service of the people; to defend the Constitution; and to bear in mind, both in speech and writing and in the expression of my views, the independence of the country, the freedom of the people, and the security of their interests.

Members belonging to the religious minorities will swear by their own sacred books while taking this oath. Members not attending the first session will perform the ceremony of taking the oath at the first session they attend.
 

Article 68

In time of war and the military occupation of the country, elections due to be held in occupied areas or countrywide may be delayed for a specified period if proposed by the President of the Republic, and approved by three-fourths of the total members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, with the endorsement of the Guardian Council. If a new Assembly is not formed, the previous one will continue to function.
 

Article 69

The deliberations of the Islamic Consultative Assembly must be open, and full minutes of them made available to the public by the radio and the official gazette. A closed session may be held in emergency conditions, if it is required for national security, upon the requisition of the President, one of the ministers, or ten members of the Assembly. Legislation passed at a closed session is valid only when approved by three-fourths of the members in the presence of the Guardian Council. After emergency conditions have ceased to exist, the minutes of such closed sessions, together with any legislation approved in them, must be made available to the public.
 

Article 70

The President, his deputies and the ministers have the right to participate in the open sessions of the Assembly either collectively or individually. They may also have their advisers accompany them. If the members of the Assembly deem it necessary, the ministers are obliged to attend. [Conversely], whenever they request it, their statements are to be heard.