Legislative referendum in the legal system of the Islamic Republic of Iran

Abstract

One of the essential tools of direct democracy in democratic systems is thereferendum .There are ambiguities around the legislative referendum whichis the most commonly used means, also recognized in Article 59 of theConstitution of Iran, including the meaning of the terms of this article, therole of sovereign institutions such as the Guardian Council, and the status ofthe outcome of the referendum in the country's norm hierarchy.This descriptive-analytic research highlights that the constitutionalcontrol by the Guardian Council places before the referendum, and it has noright to control the outcome of the referendum. Also, in the statutory law, thetype of referendum based on its condition's, the citizen's initiative, as well ashow to identify the most critical issues and the appropriate quorum for theratification of the outcome shall be recognized.

Keywords

• semi-indirect democracy
• article 59
• citizen's initiative
• legislative referendum
• guardian council