May 17, 2019
The Majlis has voted to limit deputies to three consecutive four-year terms—a statute that, if upheld by the Council of Guardians, will force the retirement of 12 percent of the deputies, including Speaker Ali Larijani.
The term limit law would force out the most senior deputies who have most of the power in the institution and bring a new generation of legislators to power after the next parliamentary election, which will be held in February.
A total of 34 of the 290 current deputies are completing their third (or more) terms and would be sent into retirement under the term limit law.
In the United States, 15 states have approved term limits for members of their state legislatures, most of them limiting the time served to eight years. There are no term limits for the federal Congress, where the longest serving current members in the two chambers are Republican Rep. Don Young of Alaska at 58 years and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont at 48 years.
There has been considerable opposition to Iran’s term limit law, with many arguing that the new law will rob the country of needed experience and others pointing out that the Constitution says nothing about term limits for deputies and the voters should have the right to elect or boot out deputies as they choose.
The Iranian Constitution does limit a president to two consecutive four-year terms, like the United States. In Iran, however, a president can run for a third term after being out of office for one term. The Majlis term limit law would also allow a deputy forced out by term limits to run again after a gap of four years.
Many commentators suggest that if the law is approved by the Guardians, it could have an impact on the 2021 presidential elections, from which President Rohani will be term-limited out. These commentators argued that major politicians like Larijani and Ali Motahari, a very eclectic and outspoken legislator, would be likely to run for president if they couldn’t stay in the Majlis.