There are five reserved seats in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis) 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 two seats for Armenians and one for each other minority: Assyrians, Jews and Zoroastrians. Given that the Bahá'í Faith is not recognized, they do not have seats in the parliament. Sunni Muslims have no specific reserved seats, but can take part in the ordinary election process at all constitutional levels. Sunni members of parliament are mostly from areas with strong Sunni ethnic minorities like Kurdistan and Baluchistan.
List List of minority MPs in recent Majlis:
Year Armenians (North) Armenians (South) Assyrian Jewish Zoroastrian 1980 Hrair Khalatian Hrach Khachatryan Sargon Betoshana Khosrow Naqi Parviz Malekpur 1984 Vartan Vartanian Artavaz Baghumian Atour Khananichou Manuchehr Kalimi-Nikruz 1988 Aflatun Ziyafat 1992 Shamshoon Maqsudpour Sir Kuros Keyvani Parviz Ravani 1996 Manuchehr Eliasi 2000 Levon Davidian Georgik Abrahamian Yonathan BetkoliaHe is also since September 2008 chairman of the Asian Bureau of World Assyrian Union, cf. , mathaba.net, 10 September 2008 Maurice Motamed Khosrow Dabestani 2004 Gevork Vartan Robert Beglarian Kourosh Niknam 2008 Siyamak More Sedgh Esfandiar Ekhtiyari 2012 Karen Khanlaryan 2016 Georgik Abrahamian 2020 Ara Shaverdian Robert Beglarian Sharli Anvieh (Charlie Anooyeh Tekyeh) Homayoun Sameh 2024 Gagard Mansourian Behshid Barkhodar
References