IRAN ELECTORAL LAW OF SEPTEMBER 9, 1906
Regulations for the Elections to the National Consultative Assembly (to be convened) in accordance with the August Prescript of His Imperial Majesty (Muzaffaru'd-Din Shah), may God immortalize his reign, issued on the 14th of Jumada ii, A.H. 1324 (=August 5, A.D. 1906) are as follows.
FIRST SECTION.
Rules governing the Elections.
Art. 1. The electors of the nation in the well-protected realms of Persia in the Provinces and Departments shall be of the following classes: (i) Princes and the Qajar tribe: (ii) Doctors of Divinity and Students: (III) Nobles and Notables: (iv) Merchants: (v) Landed proprietors and peasants: (vi) Trade-guilds.
Note 1. The tribes in each province are reckoned as forming part of the inhabitants of that province, and have the right to elect, subject to the established conditions.
Note 2. By "landed proprietor" is meant the owner of an estate, and by "peasant" the tiller of the soil.
Art. 2. The electors shall possess the following qualifications: (i) their age must not fall short of 25 years: (ii) they must be Persian subjects: (iii) they must be known in the locality: (iv) the landed proprietors and peasants amongst them must possess property of the value of at least one thousand tumans (=about L200): (v) the merchants amongst them must have a definite office and business: (vi) the members of trade-guilds amongst them must belong to a recognized guild, must be engaged in a definite craft or trade, and must be in possession of a shop of which the rent corresponds with the average rents of the locality.
ART. 3. The persons who are entirely deprived of electoral rights are as follows: (i) women: (ii) persons not within years of discretion, and those who stand in need of a legal guardian: (iii) foreigners: (iv) persons whose age falls short of twenty-five years: (v) persons notorious for mischievous opinions: (vi) bankrupts who have failed to prove that they were not fraudulent: (vii) murderers, thieves, criminals, and persons who have undergone punishment according to the Islamic Law, as well as persons suspected of murder or theft, and the like, who have not legally exculpated themselves: (viii) persons actually serving in the land or sea forces.
The persons who are conditionally deprived of electoral rights are as follows: (i) governors, and assistant governors, within the area of their governments: (ii) those employed in the military or police within the area of their appointments.
ART. 4. Those elected must possess the following qualifications: (i) they must speak Persian: (ii) they must be able to read and write Persian: (iii) they must be Persian subjects of Persian extraction: (iv) they must be locally known: (v) they must not be in government employment: (vi) their age must be not less than thirty or more than seventy: (vii) they must have some insight into affairs of State.
ART. 5. Those persons who are debarred from being elected are: (i) women: (ii) foreign subjects: (iii) those who are actually serving in the land or sea forces: (iv) fraudulent bankrupts: (v) persons who have been guilty of murder or theft; criminals; persons who have undergone punishment conformably with the Islamic Law; and persons suspected of murder, theft and the like, who have not legally exculpated themselves: (vi) those whose age falls short of thirty: (vii) those who are notorious for evil doctrine, or who live in open sin.
ART. 6. The number of persons elected by the people in the different parts of Persia shall correspond with the total number of the inhabitants of that locality. In each province (ayalat) six or twelve persons shall be elected in accordance with the following table, save in the case of Tihran, when the number of those elected shall be as follows: (i) Princes and members of the Qajar family, 4: (ii) doctors of Divinity and students, 4: (iii) merchants, 10: (iv) land-owners and peasants, 10: (v) trade-guilds, 32 in all, one from each guild.
In other provinces and departments the numbers shall be as follows: (i) Azarbayjan, 12: (ii) Khurasan, Sistan, Turbat, Turshiz, Quchan, Bujnurd, Shahrud and Bistam, 12: (iii) Gilan and Talish, 6: (iv) Mazandaran, Tunkabun, Astarabad, Firuzkuh and Damawand, 6: (v) Khmsa, Qazwin, Simnan and Damghan, 6: (vi) Kirman and Baluchistan, 6: (vii) Fars and the Persian Gulf Ports, 12: (viii) 'Arabistan, Luristan and Burujird, 6: (ix) Kirmanshahan and Garrus, 6: (x) Kurdistan and Hamadan, 6: (xi) Isfahan, Yazd, Kashan, Qum and Sawa, 12: (xii) 'Iraq, Mala'ir, Tuy Sirkan, Nihawand, Kamra, Gulpayagan and Khwansar, 6.
ART 7. Each elector has one vote and can only vote in one class.
ART 8. The number of those elected to the National Consultative Assembly throughout the whole well-protected realms of Persia shall not exceed two hundred. In the individual towns of each province not exceed two hundred. In the individual towns of each province each class shall assemble separately, elect one representative, and send him to the chief town of that province. The delegates so elected must reside in the town for which they are elected, or in the environs of the town. Three delegates thus elected in the individual towns of the elect members for the National Consultative Assembly according to the number specified in the above table for each province, so that they may present themselves to the National Consultative Assembly, and, during the period of their appointment, may discharge their duty and function, which is to guard the rights of the Government and the Nation.
The electors are not absolutely compelled to elect (a deputy) out of their own class or guild.
ART. 9. In every place where elections are carried out, a Council (anjuman) shall be formed of well-known local representatives of the six classes of electors to supervise the elections. This Council shall be under the temporary supervision of the Governor or Deputy-Governor of that place. In this way two Councils shall be formed, one local and one provincial, the former in each of the individual towns in the province, the latter in the chief town of the province.
ART. 10. Complaints in connection with the elections shall not interfere with the carrying out of the elections; that is to say, the Councils mentioned above in Art. 9 shall investigate such complaints without suspending the elections.
ART. 11. Should anyone complain of the local Council, he shall refer his complaint to the provincial Council, and if his application be without effect, it shall be referred to the National Consultative Assembly.
ART. 12. If any Member of the National Consultative Assembly should resign or die, and if more than six months intervene before the next (general) elections, the Members of the Assembly shall elect (in his place) one form his province.
ART. 13. The local and provincial Councils shall send the names of the electors and the elected of each department to the Record Office (daftar-khana) of the National Consultative Assembly, where their names shall be arranged in alphabetical order, and shall be printed and published for the information of the public. So likewise, after the conclusion of the elections, the local Council shall, within the space of one week, communicate the result of the election to the provincial Council.
ART. 14. Those elected in the individual towns of the province must be provided with a certificate from the local Council: and in like manner those elected in the chief towns of the provinces must be provided with a certificate from the provincial Council, which they must produce in the National Consultative Assembly.
ART. 15. The lection of the persons designated shall be by a majority of votes.
ART. 16. After the election of the Members of the National Consultative Assembly, the names of those elected shall be recorded in the Registry of the Assembly, and shall be announced in the newspapers.
ART. 17. The National Assembly of Elector shall be established in all towns where there is a resident Governor, which are divided into two categories. The local Governor, having regard to local requirements, is empowered to fix the place of the Court of Electors.
ART. 18. The time and place of the election must be made known to all the people on month beforehand by the local government, by means of printed leaflets and other suitable channels of advertisement.
ART. 19. Those elected to represent the Capital and the various provinces shall proceed to Tihran as quickly as possible. Since those elected in the provinces must be elected in accordance with the Regulations, and since consequently some considerable time will necessarily elapse before they can present themselves, therefore the representatives of Tihran shall be elected, and the Assembly constituted immediately, so that it may proceed to discharge its functions until the provincial representatives shall present themselves, nor shall the delay in the arrival of these latter cause the Assembly to be inactive.
ART. 20. The living expenses and annual allowance of the Members of the National Consultative Assembly depends on the determination and sanction of the Assembly itself.
ART. 21. The period for which the National Representatives are appointed shall be two years, after which period fresh elections shall take place throughout the whole of Persia.
ART. 22. Complaints regarding the Assembly and its Members respecting the carrying out of the Elections, etc., must, in so far as they refer to the Assembly, be submitted in writing to the President of the Assembly, so that the subject of complaint may be investigated in the National Consultative Assembly and judgement thereon delivered.
ART. 23. No Member of the Assembly can be arrested or detained on any pretext without the permission of the Assembly, unless he shall publicly commit some crime or misdemeanour.
All written or spoken statements of Members of the Assembly on the affairs of the Government and the Nation shall be free, except in cases where such writings or statements of any Member shall be contrary to the public good, and, according to the enactments of the Most Luminous Law (of Islam) shall deserve punishment. In such cases, by permission of the Assembly, persons of this description shall be brought before the Court of Cassation.
ART. 24. Government officials and employees of government offices who are elected in a representative capacity as members of the Assembly shall quit their previous service, and while employed in this capacity shall have no right to intervene or concern themselves in their former office or in any other (similar) service, otherwise their representative function and membership shall be null an void.
SECOND SECTION.
The conduct of the Election and registration of votes, and the conditions thereof.
ART. 25. The election of Members of the National Consultative Assembly in the Capital, and in the towns of large, moderate or small size, will take place in the presence of the Governor, or Deputy-Governor, under the supervision of the Council (anjuman) mentioned in Art. 9.
ART. 26. Election shall be by votes, and by absolute or relative majority. In case of an equality of votes, the determination of the elected (candidate) shall be effected by a (second) voting.
ART. 27. The Polling day for the Election of Members to the Assembly and the recording of votes shall, in whatever year it takes place, be on a Friday[1], with due observance of the following arrangements.
First, the voting shall take place in the presence of the Governor, the local council and the electors who are present.
Secondly, for the organization of the electoral court the Councils (anjumans) mentioned in Art. 9 shall be responsible.
Thirdly, the voting-paper shall be of white paper having no sign.
Fourthly, each of the voters shall inscribe his vote on this voting paper outside (i.e. before he enters) the Court of Electors, and shall give who shall be designated (for that purpose), who, in the presence of all, shall throw it into the ballet-box.
Fifthly, one of the Members of the Council (anjuman) mentioned in Art. 9 shall compare the names of those voting with a list furnished to him.
ART. 28. Before the votes are taken, one of the Members of the Council shall lock the ballet-box, which shall be sealed by two others, while another Member of the Council shall take charge of the key.
ART. 29. After the voting has been concluded, the lid of the box shall be opened, the voting-papers shall be counted in the presence of all, and the majority and minority shall be verified by the list (of perons entitled to vote), while several of those present shall, under the supervision of the Council, and in the presence of all, set themselves to work out the result of the voting.
ART. 30. Voting-papers on which nothing is written, or which bear illegible inscriptions, or which fail to specify clearly the name of the Candidate voted for, or on which the voter has inscribed his own name, shall not be taken into account, but shall be noted in the minutes. Thereafter the result of the election shall be proclaimed in a loud voice, and shall be declared by the president of the Court of Electors.
ART. 31. Should the number of Members elected by the people exceed the number fixed upon, those persons will be regarded as elected who possess seniority of age. Otherwise, should the occasion allow, the votes will be recounted. If, after the votes have been recounted, it appears that the number of voting-papers exceeds the number of electors, the election shall be regarded as null and void, and a fresh election shall be held.
ART. 32. The Members elected for Tihran shall choose from amongst themselves one President, two Vice-presidents, and four Secretaries, and the Assembly shall then be opened under the Honorary Presidency of His Imperial and Most Sacred Majesty (may God immortalize his reign!).
ART. 33. The President, the two Vice-presidents, and the Secretaries of the National Consultative Assembly shall, with the approval of the Members of the Assembly, be changed once a year. In renewing the election of the persons above-mentioned, it is understood that regard shall always be paid to the majority of votes of the Assembly.
Dated the 19th of the month of Rajab, A.H. 1324
(=Sept. 8, A.D. 1906).
"In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Forgiving.
"To the Right Honourable the Sadr-i-A'zam (Prime Minister).
These Regulations are correct."
Rajab 20, A.H. 1324 (=Sept. 9, A.D. 1906).
(Place of the Royal Signature.)
[1] Friday is chosen because in Persia, as in other Muhammadan countries, it is a general holiday.