Fundamentals, Criteria and Legal Principles Governing Electoral Redistricting in Iran

Holding elections in order to elect decision-makers at different national and regional levels has become the only method in which to realize national sovereignty and democracy. It is also fundamental in being able to manage a society's macro affairs and in controlling the conflicts andDisparities of its different classes. Legally and technically, the crucial issue of “electoral redistricting”, which means dividing a country’s territory and population into different constituencies in order to balance the number of representatives and population of the country,is an important and necessary prerequisite for achieving the aforementioned goal. In this descriptive-analytical study, which was based on documentary and library data, the authors answer the following question: “What are the fundamentals, criteria and legal principles governing electoral redistricting and how do they influence the Iranian legal system?”By looking at the various aspects of this issue, one can identify, the religious and customary principles of a proper redistricting is based on the reliability of people’s votes and holding a fair and free election. It must be noted, a fair and free election observes criteria such as equal population, appropriate boundaries and geographical size and takes common-interest communities into consideration. In addition, a fair and free election must abide by a number of legal principles such as, the independence and impartiality of the decision-making authority in charge of electoral redistricting, equality of the credit and value attributed to citizens’ votes, equal representation, non-discrimination, transparency of the redistricting process and effective participation.The above criteria and strategies have been stipulated in important documents within the Iranian electoral and voting system and if the Iranian government were to pursue these goals and aim to achieve them in a much shorter time span, problems such as gerrymandering can to some extent be eradicated.