Assembly of Experts

The Assembly of Experts (also Assembly of Experts for the Leadership) of Iran (Persian: مجلس خبرگان رهبری, Majles-e-Khobregan), is a congressional body for selecting the Supreme Leader and supervising his activities. Its name comes from the requirement that all its members be experts in Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), so they are able to judge the activities of the Supreme Leader, and making sure he does not violate Islamic rules and is complying to his duties according to the constitution.

Members of the assembly are elected by direct public vote to eight year terms.

According to the Iranian Constitution, the assembly is in charge of electing the Supreme Leader, which is then appointed for life, However the assembly has the power to remove him at any time. The assembly elects a new Supreme Leader, in the event of dissmisal or death of the previous Supreme Leader.

The assembly gathers every six months, and the members are elected by public vote for eight-year terms. The candidates are subject to approval of Guardian Council. Currently, the average age of the member is over 60 years, which results in many mid-term elections.

The meetings and the meeting notes of the assembly are confidential.

It is currently chaired by Ayatollah Ali Meshkini, deputied by Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, and Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini. Current scribes are Ghorbanali Dorri-Najafabadi and Ahmad Khatami.

Currently, most members of the assembly are conservatives, so the assembly is usually considered as a threat to the ongoing reform movement.