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. All directly elected members must first be vetted by the Guardian Council.
Assembly of Experts | |
|---|---|
| Leadership | |
Ahmad Jannati since 24 May 2016 | |
First Deputy Chairman | Ebrahim Raisi since 21 February 2023 |
Second Deputy Chairman | Hashem Hosseini Bushehri since 21 February 2023 |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 88 (6 vacant) |
Political groups | Combatant Clergy Association Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom People's Experts |
Length of term | 8 years |
| Elections | |
| Multi-seat districts: Plurality-at-large voting Single-seat districts: First-past-the-post voting | |
Last election | 26 February 2016 |
| Meeting place | |
| Assembly of Experts building, Tehran, Iran | |
| Website | |
| www | |
| Government of Islamic Republic of Iran |
|---|
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. The Assembly consists of 88 Mujtahids that are elected 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), by direct public vote for eight-year terms. 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.