At stake in this election:

• The office of President of Iran

Description of government structure:

• Chief of State: Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Hoseini-KHAMENEI *
• Head of Government: President Mohammad KHATAMI
• Assembly: Iran has a unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami) with 290 seats.

* The Leader of the Islamic Revolution is appointed for life by the Assembly of Experts.

Description of electoral system:

• The Supreme Leader is appointed.
• The President is elected by absolute majority vote through a two-round system to serve a 4-year term.
• In the Islamic Consultative Assembly (Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami) 290 members are elected by qualified plurality vote to serve 4-year terms.***

*** Note: Changed from 270 seats with the 18 February 2000 election.

Main Candidates in the Presidential race:

• Mohammad KHATAMI
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Ahmad TAVAKOLI
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Ali SHAMKHANI
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Abdollah JASBI
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Hassan GHAFOURIFARD
  • Party: Independent Candidate
• Ali FALLAHIAN
  • Party: Independent Candidate

Last Presidential election:

• Presidential elections were last held on May 23, 1997. President Mohammad KHATAMI received 69% of the vote.

Population and number of registered voters:

• Population: 66,812,736 (2001)
• Registered Voters: 38,700,000 (2001)

Gender Data:

·         Female Population: 32,902,398 (2001)

·         Is Iran a signatory to CEDAW: No

·         Has Iran ratified CEDAW: No

·         Gender Quota: No

·         Female candidates in this election: No

·         Number of Female Parliamentarians: 10 (following the 2000 elections)

·         Human Development Index Position: 69 (2014)

·         Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) Categorization: N/A

Disability Data:

·         Is Iran a signatory to CRPD: No

·         Has Iran ratified CRPD: Yes, accession (23 Occtober 2009)

·         Population with a disability: 10,021,910 (est.)