The Legal System of Recognized Religious Minorities’ Members of Iran Parliament in the Light of Equality Principle

Abstract

According to the prevailing opinions on interpreting Article 64 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, religious minorities’ members consisting of the Zoroastrians, the Jews, the Christians (north and south Armenians, Assyrians and Chaldeans) are not augmentable in Iran’s parliament. The main goal of this article is to clarify the allocation of these five seats and its position within the scope of the principle of equality, which was done by describing-analyzing method and collecting library-documentary information. The research suggested that five members are guaranteed at a minimum and there are no limitations. It is changed in statute and parliament election also has established significant discrimination through the election system of the religious minorities that appear during the process of enrolment, qualifications, the structure of supervisions, provincial and central, voting and dividing election centers.Finally, positive discrimination has changed into a negative one. The solution is to correct the acts and regulations. So we suggest amending the laws in secondary fields and voting centers, and also the participation of minorities in control boards, and increasing minorities members in parliament.

Keywords

• article 64 of the constitution of the islamic republic of iran
• iran parliamentary election
• religious minorities
• equality
• positive discrimination