009)
election results: Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD elected president; percent of
vote - Mahmud AHMADI-NEJAD 62%, Ali Akbar Hashemi RAFSANJANI 36%

Legislative branch:
unicameral Islamic Consultative Assembly or
Majles-e-Shura-ye-Eslami (290 seats - formerly 270 seats; members
elected by popular vote to serve four-year terms)
elections: last held 20 February 2004 with a runoff held 7 May 2004
(by-elections next to be held in December 2006; general election to
be held in February 2008)
election results: percent of vote - NA; seats by party -
conservatives/Islamists 190, reformers 50, independents 43,
religious minorities 5, and 2 seats unaccounted for

Judicial branch:
Supreme Court - above a special clerical court, a revolutionary
court, and a special administrative court

Political parties and leaders:
formal political parties are a relatively new phenomenon in Iran
and most conservatives still prefer to work through political
pressure groups rather than parties; a loose pro-reform coalition
called the 2nd Khordad Front, which includes political parties as
well as less formal pressure groups and organizations, achieved
considerable success at elections to the sixth Majles in early 2000;
groups in the coalition include: Islamic Iran Participation Front
(IIPF), Executives of Construction Party (Kargozaran), Solidarity
Party, Islamic Labor Party, Mardom Salari, Mojahedin of the Islamic
Revolution Organization (MIRO), and Militant Clerics Society
(Ruhaniyun); the coalition participated in the seventh Majles
elections in early 2004; following his defeat in the 2005
presidential elections, former MCS Secretary General Mehdi KARRUBI
formed the National Trust Party; a new apparently conservative
group, the Builders of Islamic Iran, took a leading position in the
new Majles after winning a majority of the seats in February 2004

Political pressure groups and leaders:
political pressure groups conduct most of Iran's political
activities; groups that generally support the Islamic Republic
include Ansar-e Hizballah, Muslim Students Following the Line of the
Imam, Tehran Militant Clergy Association (Ruhaniyat), Islamic
Coalition Party (Motalefeh), and Islamic Engineers Society; active
pro-reform student groups include the Office of Strengthening Unity
(OSU); opposition groups include Freedom Movement of Iran, the
National Front, Marz-e Por Gohar, and various e