Parliamentary elections were held in

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

on 8 March 1996, with a second round on 19 April. The

Combatant Clergy Association The Combatant Clergy Association () is a politically active group in Iran, but not a political party in the traditional sense. It has never been registered as a political party; however, it acts as a fragmented caucus and has actively operated ...

and its allies emerged as the largest bloc in the

Majlis (, pl. ') is an Arabic term meaning 'sitting room', used to describe various types of special gatherings among common interest groups of administrative, social or religious nature in countries with linguistic or cultural connections to the Mus ...

, winning 110 of the 270 seats.

Electoral system

The

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. When these pri ...

approved in a December 1979 referendum provided for a 270-seat Majlis, with five seats reserved for minority groups including

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

, Zorastrians,

Armenians Armenians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to the Armenian highlands of West Asia.Robert Hewsen, Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in ''The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiq ...

from the north and south of the country and one jointly elected by

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

.Iran
IPU The elections were conducted using a

two-round system The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...

, with the number of candidates progressing to the second round being double the number of seats available. Candidates required an absolute majority to win a seat in the first round, and plurality to win in the second round. However, in this election, minimum percentages for candidates to be elected in first round was lowered to 33.33% (one-third of votes).

Campaign

A total of 3,726 candidates contested the elections, including around 326 women. 145 seats were won in the first round of voting.Elections held in 1996
IPU Main groups contesting in the elections were: *

and Islamic Aligned Organizations ('traditional' right-wing) *

Executives of Construction Party The Executives of Construction of Iran Party () is a reformist political party in Iran, founded by 16 members of the cabinet of the then President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani in 1996. The party is a member of Council for Coordinating the Reforms F ...

('modern' right-wing) * Association for Defence of Revolution Values ('neocon' right-wing) *

Association of Combatant Clerics The Association of Combatant Clerics () is an Iranian reformist Clericalism in Iran, clerical political party. It is regarded as a Left-wing politics, left-wing party within the Iranian political spectrum. History The Association of Combatant Cl ...

('traditional' left-wing) * Coalition of Imam's Line groups ('radical' left-wing) 15 Freedom Movement members presented themselves as candidates and only 4 of them made it through initial vetting, 3 of whom were excluded before polling day. The organization announced its intention to withdraw from the election. The election was boycotted by the National Front and Nation Party.

Results

Both conservatives and reformers claimed a 70 percent majority after the first round and also claimed independents as supporters. ;''Salam'' newspaper According to '' Salam'', Executives of Construction and Imam's Line Groups won shared 120 parliamentary seats.Canada: Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, Iran: The National Kargozaran-Sazandegi Party; political view, its leaders, branches, and participation in any election in Iran (1998), 19 February 2002, IRN38586.E, available at: http://www.refworld.org/docid/3df4be498.html ccessed 10 June 2016/ref> ;Adelkhah (1999) ; Nohlen ''et al'' (2001) :''In the following table, the Independents are counted as "allies"''. ; Kazemzadeh (2008)

Aftermath

The newly elected members of Majlis met for the first time on 1 June. Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri remained in Speaker position until 2000 after he received 11 more votes than

Abdullah Nouri Abdollah Noori ( ) is an Iranian Shia cleric and reformist politician. Despite his "long history of service to the Islamic Republic," he became the most senior Islamic politician to be sentenced to prison since the Iranian Revolution, when he was ...

(also a cleric).

References

{{Iranian elections

Legislative A legislature (, ) is a deliberative assembly with the legal authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country, nation or city on behalf of the people therein. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers ...

Islamic Consultative Assembly elections