The Guardian Council (also called Council of Guardians or Constitutional Council, Persian: شورای نگهبان, romanized: Shourā-ye Negahbān)[1][2] is an appointed and constitutionally mandated 12-member council that wields considerable power and influence in the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The constitution of the Islamic Republic gives the council three mandates:
c) approving or disqualifying candidates seeking to run in local, parliamentary, presidential, or Assembly of Experts elections.[6][3][7]
The Iranian constitution calls for the council to be composed of six Islamic faqihs (experts in Islamic Law), "conscious of the present needs and the issues of the day" to be selected by the Supreme Leader of Iran, and six jurists, "specializing in different areas of law, to be elected by the Majlis (the Iranian Parliament) from among the Muslim jurists nominated by the Chief Justice"[8] (who, in turn, is also appointed by the Supreme Leader).[9]
The Council has played a central role in controlling the interpretation of Islamic values in Iranian law in the following ways:
As part of its vetting of potential candidates to determine who can and cannot run for national office,[7] it has disqualified reform-minded candidates—including the most well-known candidates—from running for office;[10]
Vetoes laws passed by the popularly elected Majlis.[11][12]
When the 2009 presidential election was announced, popular former president Mohammad Khatami would not discuss his plans to run against Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, for the Council might have disqualified Khatami as it had other reformists' candidatures, on the grounds that they were not dedicated enough to Islamic values.[15][16]
There have also been instances where the Constitutional Council reversed its ban on particular people after being ordered to do so by Khamenei.[17]
The lack of transparency in the rendering of decisions by the Guardian Council has eroded its legitimacy in the eyes of Iranians and the world.[18]