Duality by Design: The Iranian Electoral System - IFES

An Overview of Iran’s Electoral
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Acknowledgments
I owe a debt of gratitude to the International Foundation for Electoral
Systems for making this publication possible. I am thankful to Bill Sweeney
and Michael Svetlik for their support and personal interest in this project.
This publication represents the efforts of a large number of dedicated IFES
professionals in Washington, DC. Thanks are due to IFES’ Middle East
and North Africa Division (MENA) for their support of the publication. I am
grateful to John Lawrence and Laura Osio in IFES’ Communication and
Advocacy Division. Laura’s support, dedication and contributions have been
indispensable in guiding this report to publication. Thanks are also due to
Rakesh Sharma from the Applied Research Center (ARC) for generously
sharing his time and insights.
I would also like to express my appreciation to the individuals who advised
me on the content: to Jørgen Elklit, for reviewing the manuscript and
providing expert advice and input on electoral matters, and to Mehrangiz
Kar for her perspective on legal issues. I would like to extend my gratitude
to Andrew Reynolds who improved the draft with his expert opinion and
invaluable recommendations. I am grateful to Charles Kurzman and Jack
Santucci for their comments on the first draft. I am also sincerely thankful
to the people who were kind enough to share their time and information.
Among them were Hosein Ghazian, Omid Memarian, Seraj Mirdamadi and
Shahram Rafizadeh, and all those who under the current conditions prefer
to remain anonymous. I would like to personally thank my husband, Ali Vaez,
for his loving support and encouragement throughout this project.
Finally, I would like to thank Homeyra Mokhtarzada for believing in this
project from the beginning and her continued encouragement and support.
Yasmin Alem
Author
International Foundation for Electoral Systems