Iran elections 2024: What is at stake in first vote since Mahsa Amini protests?

Voters will elect members of parliament and assembly of experts amid expectations of low turnout and boycott

Iranians will cast ballots in legislative and key assembly elections on Friday, with conservatives expected to tighten their grip on power in the absence of any serious competition.

The vote comes amid mounting economic difficulties in Iran, which has also been grappling with the aftershocks of mass protests triggered by the 2022 death in custody of Mahsa Amini.

The Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will be the first Iranian to cast his ballot on Friday at 8am local time at one of the 59,000 polling stations.

“Everyone must participate in the elections,” he said in a speech this month, urging “influential personalities” to encourage people to vote.

“The more fervent the elections, the more national authority and national security will be secured,” he said of the vote, which will be held against a backdrop of soaring tensions in the Middle East.

The elections will take place amid expectations of a low voter turnout, reflecting widespread dissatisfaction with the country’s leadership.

Iranians are voting for two bodies: the 290-seat parliament and the 88-seat Assembly of Experts.

Iran’s parliament is a unicameral legislature with responsibility for drafting legislation, ratifying international treaties and approving the country’s annual budget.

Voters will also decide who will make up the 88-member Assembly of Experts, a key legislative body that appoints the supreme leader.

Ayatollah Khamenei, who turns 85 this year, has held the post of supreme leader since 1989.

Although the Assembly of Experts largely follows the supreme leader’s guidance and rubber stamps his orders, it also has the power to dismiss him if he is unable to perform his constitutional duties or if it decides he should not have initially qualified for the role.

A total of 144 candidates have been approved to run for seats in the Assembly of Experts, for an eight-year term.

Former moderate president Hassan Rouhani said that he was barred from seeking re-election to the assembly after 24 years of membership.

More than 61 million of Iran’s 85 million people are eligible to vote. A recent poll conducted by Iran’s state television found more than half of respondents were indifferent to the elections.

Iran’s current parliament was elected in a vote in 2020, during the Covid pandemic. The elections then had a turnout of 42.57 per cent – the lowest since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

In Tehran, where less than 20 per cent of eligible voters cast their ballots in 2020, election banners are noticeably less prevalent than in previous elections.

Analysts expect the elections to be dominated by conservative and ultra-conservative candidates, mirroring the make-up of the current parliament.

Aspiring candidates had to be vetted in order to be allowed to stand. The majority of candidates who put themselves forward did not pass the vetting process and were barred from standing.