The gears of diversity

Iranian society is diverse: people with very different backgrounds, wants and needs live here. A well-designed political system should make sure all these people count. Elections and parties play an important role in it. Yet many feel they are not represented in this system, or that their interests are not seen enough. Turnout in the Majles election of Esfand 1402 came to about 41 percent; the lowest since 1357. When that happens, something has to change. One possible answer: more diversity in our democracy. Which gears of diversity do you want to turn?

In an election the voters' varied wishes are gathered and weighed, and something like a collective will takes shape, on which representatives decide. In Iran the vote is universal: every Iranian over eighteen can vote and counts as an equal member of society; in the election of 1403 more than 61 million people were eligible; but whom they could vote for had been decided before them: of every three who registered, two never reached the ballot. What does «universal» mean? Whom do we leave out? Teenagers, the millions without a birth certificate, and all those whose names never reach the ballot.

Where citizens' varied interests are at stake, parties have important work: they listen to concerns, gather demands, write programmes and bring new subjects to parliament. In elections they put up candidates to represent our interests. In Iran hundreds of parties are licensed, but their members are few, and politics moves more through currents and electoral lists than through parties. What would have to change for a party to mean something again?

Quotas are not new, but they are still contested: they usually come up when a group's interests are not represented enough; women, ethnic groups, or the poor, for instance. Iran already has one quota: five seats of the Majles for religious minorities. In the twelfth Majles 14 women sit; less than five percent. A quota sets aside part of the seats, or of the top places on a list, for these groups.

Children and teenagers have no vote in any election to decide who represents their interests. Iran's median age is about 34, but most members of the Majles are between 40 and 60. What they pass is binding for the young too; the very people who must live longest with these decisions.

Four million residents without a birth certificate have no vote in any election. And of every three who register to stand, one reaches the ballot.

From 1358 to 1385 the voting age in Iran was 15. In Dey 1385 the Majles raised it to 18 by 151 votes to 30, and the Guardian Council approved it the same week. The argument: to match the ages for military service and a driving licence. Critics said a large block of young voters was removed.

«The young have no political maturity!» Many say so, but research shows fifteen-year-olds know and care about politics as much as eighteen- to twenty-five-year-olds. Adults do not have to prove their «fitness to vote» either. So where is the right line?

پرسش روی چرخ: سن رأی را دوباره پایین بیاوریم؟

Voting needs only one basic ability: stating a preference. That can be practised at school, where politics is taught too. So whoever goes to school could vote as well. Do children vote under their elders' influence? There is no research on it.

But we do know that the old vote under the influence of those around them too. Very young voters are a small share of the electorate, and representatives would still be adults. Yet: democracy could get a new lease of life, and political debate with children is instructive for everyone.

پرسش روی چرخ: هرکس مدرسه می‌رود، رأی بدهد؟

Nearly four million Afghans live in Iran, work, pay rent and taxes, and have a share in society. Many are second or third generation and were born here. But without a birth certificate they have no vote at any level; not for the neighbourhood council, not for the Majles.

The law of 1398 gave the children of an Iranian mother and a foreign father a path to citizenship. The Amayesh card is a registration, not citizenship. Do we want the vote to stay tied to the birth certificate? If not, how many years of residence are enough to vote, and in which elections? 45 democracies in the world give their migrant residents the vote at the local, regional or national level.

پرسش روی چرخ: رأی را از شناسنامه جدا کنیم؟

Exclusion is not only about voters; it is about the names that reach the ballot. In Iran every candidate must pass vetting: the executive boards and then the Guardian Council, under a reading of «approbatory supervision» in force since 1370. In the Majles election of 1402, of about 49 thousand who registered, nearly 15 thousand were approved.

No woman has ever been approved as a presidential candidate; the constitution's word «rejal» has been read that way. When the list of candidates is cut before the vote, the voter's choice is cut too. Should the criteria be public, clear and open to appeal?

In free democracies standing is a form, and sometimes a few hundred signatures or a deposit returned after the vote. Nobody weighs a candidate's beliefs and record; the voter does. The filter of 1370 has no equal in any free country, and a parliament that passes through it is not the voters' parliament.

پرسش روی چرخ: در ایران آزاد، صافیِ تأیید صلاحیت اصلاً باید باشد؟

Another form of voting already exists in Iran: multi-member constituencies. Tehran sends 30 members to the Majles, and every voter can write up to 30 names or candidate codes on the ballot by hand.

More choice, but long ballots, more invalid votes and lists prevailing over people. Smaller constituencies with one member make a closer relationship, but leave minorities out. Which do you prefer?

پرسش روی چرخ: حوزه‌های کوچک‌تر، هر کدام با یک نماینده؟

…it goes to neighbourhoods and varied gatherings with open, lively debate.

…it commits to diversity with concrete work and strives for it.

…in its campaign it speaks of principles and values, not only of names.

…it lets all members decide on the campaign and the candidates.

پرسش روی چرخ: کدام‌یک تو را به یک حزب نزدیک‌تر می‌کند؟

In Iran politics runs more through currents than parties: principlist, reformist, moderate, independent. Electoral lists like the «List of Hope» in 1394 took the place of a party. Few feel a party represents them. For urgent demands to be heard there are more flexible, digital and open forms, in which hierarchy plays a smaller role.

Campaigns do just that: the campaign «to change the male face of the Majles» in 1394, the campaign to save Lake Urmia, the teachers' and pensioners' associations, the petition signatures. They show parties new ways, but cannot take on all their work.

پرسش روی چرخ: احزاب باید بیشتر مثل کارزارها کار کنند؟

…they could get a tax break, have a «democracy pension», or have the time they give counted as working hours.

…childcare were provided or paid for them and they could take part online too; through an app, say.

پرسش روی چرخ: حقوق بازنشستگی برای کار حزبی؟

Yes: Women are less than five percent of the Majles, few in the councils, and have never been presidential candidates. There should be a party that fights specifically for their demands and against inequality and discrimination.

No: Women's equality is not a minority's issue; it is half of society. Many experience discrimination and inequality, even men. That is why all parties and lists should pursue it more seriously.

Article 64 of the constitution sets aside five of the Majles's 290 seats for religious minorities: one for Zoroastrians, one for Jews, one for Assyrian and Chaldean Christians, and one each for the Armenians of the north and the south. A quota is not a new idea in Iran.

Another example: since 2014 half of Mexico's election candidates must be women; in 2018 women took 49 percent of the seats in both chambers. In Iran the reformist lists of 1394 promised 30 percent women. What would an equal quota on all lists do?

پرسش روی چرخ: سهمیهٔ ۵۰ درصدی زنان روی همهٔ لیست‌ها؟

By law or voluntary, a quota raises different questions depending on how it is used: how much does it limit the freedom to choose? Which groups should get one?

What other measures, instead of a quota or beside it, are needed so that people are empowered and supported? Without a belief that diversity and equal opportunity matter, a quota is of little use. So perhaps it is no cure-all, but it can be an important step.

پرسش روی چرخ: سهمیه: گام مهم یا محدودیت؟

«Proportion»: a chart of women's share of the population (half) beside their share of the twelfth Majles (14 of 290), and the share of the under-30s in the population beside their share of the Majles (near zero).