Iranian Parliament religious minority reserved seats
There are 5 reserved seats in the Iranian Parliament for the religious minorities. After the Persian Constitutional Revolution, the Constitution of 1906 provided for reserved Parliamentary seats granted to the recognized religious minorities, a provision maintained after the 1979 Iranian Revolution. There are 2 seats for Armenians and one for each other minority: Assyrians, Jews and Zoroastrians.[1] Given that the Bahá'í Faith is not recognized, they do not have seats in the parliament.[2] Sunni Muslims have no specific reserved seats, but can take part in the ordinary election process at all constitutional levels.[3] Sunni members of parliament are mostly from areas with strong Sunni ethnic minorities like Baluchistan.[3]
List of minority MPs in recent Majlis:
Armenians (North, South) | Assyrian | Jewish | Zoroastrian | |
---|---|---|---|---|
1980 | Hrair Khalatian, Hrach Khachatryan | unknown | unknown | unknown |
1984 | Vartan Vartanian, Artavaz Baghumian | unknown | unknown | unknown |
1988 | Vartan Vartanian, Artavaz Baghumian | unknown | unknown | unknown |
1992 | Vartan Vartanian, Artavaz Baghumian | unknown | unknown | Parviz Ravani |
1996 | Vartan Vartanian, Artavaz Baghumian | Shamshoon Maqsudpour Sir | Manuchehr Eliasi | Parviz Ravani |
2000 | Levon Davidian, Georgik Abrahamian | Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh | Maurice Motamed | Khosrow Dabestani |
2004 | Gevork Vartan, Robert Beglarian | Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh | Maurice Motamed | Kourosh Niknam |
2008 | Gevork Vartan, Robert Beglarian | Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh[4] | Siamak Moreh Sedgh | Esfandiyar Ekhtiyari |
2012 | Karen Khanlari, Robert Beglarian | Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh | Siamak Moreh Sedgh | Esfandiyar Ekhtiyari |
2016 | Karen Khanlari, Georgik Abrahamian | Younatan Betkolia Googtapeh | Siamak Moreh Sedgh | Esfandiyar Ekhtiyari |
References
- ↑ Federation Internationale des Ligues des Droits de L'Homme (August 2003). "Discrimination against religious minorities in IRAN" (PDF). fidh.org. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-04-22. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ↑ Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (2007). "A Faith Denied: The Persecution of the Baha'is of Iran" (PDF). Iran Human Rights Documentation Center. Retrieved 2007-03-03.
- 1 2 US Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor (2007). "International Religious Freedom Report 2007: Iran". US State Department. Retrieved 2008-05-19.
- ↑ He is also since September 2008 chairman of the Asian Bureau of World Assyrian Union, cf. Iran: Majlis speaker felicitates Assyrian MP on new post, mathaba.net, September 10, 2008