紀要論文

紀要論文

text

国際公共政策研究. 2020, 25(1), p. 63-77

The Supreme Leader’s Legitimacy Crises and Candidate Screening in Iran’s Post-Khomeini Parliamentary Elections

Chisaka, Tomoyo

大阪大学国際公共政策学会

英語

text

2020-09

It is widely known that Iran’s Guardian Council, whose members are mostly appointed by the Supreme Leader, has disqualified reformist candidates to prevent them from entering into Parliament. However, few studies analyzed the timing when reformists were likely to be disqualified and whether the target of disqualification has been consistent over the years. Examining screening practices by the Guardian Council in parliamentary elections, this paper found that the targets of disqualification has gradually increased in the post-Khomeini period. It also found that the expansion of targets is closely associated with critical events or popular protests that challenge the Supreme Leader’s legitimacy. These findings have two theoretical implications. First, although these findings are in line with “informational effect of electoral control” suggested by the previous research as candidate screening can signal leadership’s power of holding state institutions to discourage opposition supporters and to retain regime supporters, this paper clarifies the timing when the leadership is much more likely to rely on the informational effect. Second, Iran’s candidate screening represents a rare case to analyze how the leadership performs under the condition in which excluding candidates is legalized, but criterion for judging credentials are rather vague and the leadership can flexibly change targets of disqualification.

10.18910/77126

77126

The Supreme Leader’s Legitimacy Crises and Candidate Screening in Iran’s Post-Khomeini Parliamentary Elections

Chisaka, Tomoyo

大阪大学国際公共政策学会

英語

2020-09

国際公共政策研究

25

1

63

77

https://hdl.handle.net/11094/77126

10.18910/77126

https://doi.org/10.18910/77126