Representation in Iran

Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly is the counterpart of parliaments in parliamentary systems and the US Congress in the American system. 

 There are no Baháʼí representatives in Iran's Islamic Consultative Assembly (the Majlis). 

Under the current Iranian legal and political system:

• Reserved Seats: The Iranian Constitution only recognizes Zoroastrians, Jews, and Christians as protected religious minorities. These groups are allocated a total of five reserved seats in the 290-member parliament:
  • Two seats for Armenian Christians
  • One seat for Assyrian and Chaldean Christians
  • One seat for Jews
  • One seat for Zoroastrians
• Non-Recognition: The Baháʼí Faith is not recognized by the Iranian government, which often characterizes the community as a "political movement" or "espionage cell" rather than a religion. Consequently, Baháʼís are excluded from the reserved seat system.
• Election Barriers: All candidates for parliament must be approved by the Guardian Council, which requires candidates to demonstrate commitment to Islam or one of the recognized minority faiths. This effectively bars Baháʼís from running for any office.

In the 290-seat Islamic Consultative Assembly, there are exactly five representatives from the recognized religious minorities. 

The breakdown of these seats is as follows:

• Christians: 3 representatives
  • 2 seats for Armenian Christians (one for the North and one for the South).
  • 1 seat for Assyrian and Chaldean Christians.
• Jews: 1 representative.
• Zoroastrians: 1 representative. 

For the current (12th) Parliament, some of these specific representatives include: 

• Behshid Barkhodar (Zoroastrian) — notably the first female representative for religious minorities in the assembly.
• Homayoun Sameh (Jewish).
• Ara Shaverdian (Northern Armenian Christian).
• Geghard Mansourian (Southern Armenian Christian).
• Shaarli Anouyeh Tekyeh (Assyrian and Chaldean Christian).