State Machinery in Iran

Assembly of Experts

Assembly of Experts, a post revolution institution, is an innovative alliance between classic authoritarianism and democratic methodology. Comprising of 88 clerics, the Assembly of Experts is elected every ten years directly by the people. This body meets to select or elect (two different scenarios according to the Constitution) the Supreme Leader. A popularly elected body reserves the responsibility to elect a leadership with highly authoritarian features. This is the only body within the Iranian decision making apparatus that has the constitutional right to remove the Supreme Leader, although the is no precedence for such a removal yet. 
The Assembly of Experts' contribution to Iran's Iron fist is that it ensures that the Supreme Leader (either the incumbent or the next) stays true to the ideological foundation of the revolution. To ensure this, the Guardianship council vets the candidates who run for a seat in the Assembly of Experts. The vetting process inevitably results in skewing the pool of candidates, often the hardliners are given the clearance while the moderate and reformer clergymen are discarded from the ballot. 

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