Assembly of Experts

Assembly of Experts
Assembly of Experts
	Emblem of Iran
	Assembly of Experts building, Tehran
Leadership
Chairman	Mohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani ; since 21 May 2024
First Deputy Chairman	Hashem Hosseini Bushehri ; since 21 May 2024
Second Deputy Chairman	Alireza Arafi ; since 21 May 2024
Structure
Seats	88
Political groups	By alliance Principlists (59) ; Reformists (1) ; Independents (26) ; Vacant (2) ; By party TTS (60) ; SST (8) ; CCA (6) ; IND (12) ; Vacant (2) ;
Length of term	8 years
Elections
Voting system	Multi-seat districts: Plurality-at-large voting; Single-seat districts: First-past-the-post voting
Last election	1 March 2024
Meeting place
Website
	www.majlesekhobregan.ir

The Assembly of Experts (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, romanized: majles-e xobregân-e rahbari), also translated as the Assembly of Experts of the Leadership or as the Council of Experts, is the deliberative body empowered to appoint the Supreme Leader of Iran. All directly elected members must first be vetted by the Guardian Council.

All candidates to the Assembly of Experts must be approved by the Guardian Council whose members are, in turn, appointed either directly or indirectly by the Supreme Leader. The Assembly consists of 88 Mujtahids that are elected from lists of thoroughly vetted candidates (in 2016 166 candidates were approved by the Guardians out of 801 who applied to run for the office), by direct public vote for eight-year terms. The number of members has ranged from 82 elected in 1982 to 88 elected in 2016. Current laws require the assembly to meet at least twice every six months.