it's the election season in iran, with the candidate lists finalize and preparations underway, the country has already geared up for its highly anticipated parliamentary elections. the helpfuls are spending their hectic days, each one trying to grab one of the two. 190 seats in the islamic consultative assembly, the official name for iran's parliament. on the first day of march, the iranian nation will go to the polls to elect their mps for the next four years, but who is eligible to cast his or her vote, and what do they expect from the of representatives? on the other hand, what does candidate have to undergo before making his or her way into the parliament, and as an mp, what can they do? for the electorate, can the

new members bring a new lease of life to the country's legislative body, and what challenges aways them in baharistan building, where they are supposed to pass, amend and change laws and at the same time oversee the government's performance. these and more on this episode of iran today. since the victory of the islamic revolution in 1979, 11 rounds of parliamentary elections have been. held in the country, the 12th round is scheduled to be held on this friday, the new elected members will convene in late may.

by law, election day is a holiday in iran. polling stations are open for at least 10 hours with the interior ministry able to extend the voting time if necessary, which is often done. in iran, voters do not need to register before elections. citizens aged 18 or above an election day can vote any polling station across the country. mohsen islami, spokesman for iran's election head.

34 people registered, in the 10th round, 12,72 people registered, and in the ninth round, 5,385 people registered, as you see, there has been a huge increase in the number of people who want to stand for parliament, this year, the registration process was done online, so it was done smoothly, this round, the number of young people who registered for the candidacy was also considerably high, nearly 70% of them were aged between 30 and 50. in this regard, we have had a 55% increase in comparison to the last round. the 290 seat islamic consultative assembly consists of 285 directly elected members and five seats reserved for zorastrians, jews, assyrian and caldanian christians and armenians. one for. armenians in the north of

iran and one for armenians in the south. the common eligibility criteria for candidates included the minimum age of 30 and maximum age of 75 years, master's degree or its of equivalent, iranian citizenship and no dual nationality. government ministers, members of the guardian council and high judicial council are banned from running for office, as is the head of administrative court of justice, the head of general. some civil servants and religious leaders and any member of the armed forces. what measures do you take to conduct a clean and fair election? اجرایی to have clean and fair elections, executive processes are going on as a scheduled. we have tried to train all the executive agents so as to avoid any problem. at the same time the guardian. council's

representatives are present at the polling stations, likewise the candidates representatives are all present at the polling stations, add to them the appointed inspector. so you see the voting process is being observed, monitored, supervised and inspected by different people. in a simultaneous election, 144 clerics will compete for the all cleric 88 seat assembly of experts that functions as an advisory body to the leader of the islamic revolution. their term of service is eight years. under iran's constitution, the assembly also monitors the leader and chooses his success. according to ministry of interior, nearly 59,000 polling stations will be installed, staffed with around 800,000 personnel to ensure smooth elections. based on article 74 the constitution, the executive bodies are

obliged to provide the candidates with facilities and capacities for campaign purposes. this year, the candidates across the country are provided with nearly 200 tv channels. channels for the candidates, moreover, local messenger services like it, bale, surush plus, i gap and rubica have given personal space to the candidates, add to that local radio channels and other public platforms.

meanwile, transparency in election campaigns has been addressed as matter of high priority in this room. امسال بر اساس قانون کلیه نامزدها یک شماره حساب دادن. this year all the candidates are required to enter their bank account numbers a financial site we have designed for this round of the parliamentary elections. they should enter all the data concerning their election funding sources and expenditures. for example, if the candidates receive financial aid for a person, a party and so on, they have to be entered on this side. likewise, the expenditures, like the money spent for setting up their headquarters. holding rallies, pr and the like, all have to be entered a site. this all has to be done for the sake of transparency. it's interesting to know that each constituency has a certain spending cap. the sky is not the limit, and the candidates

cannot spend as much as they like or can. this is the first time we have set a spending cap for the candidates. the spending cap is determined by criteria. such as the constituency total population, allocated seats in the parliament, etc. if candidate does not respect the spending cap, they are punished by being bought from standing for parliament for two rounds. the winners of the parliamentary elections constitute iran's legislative body, which has enormous power, it delineates the course the country should take, hence it can shape the future of the country. the islamic consultative assembly can establish laws on all matters within the limits of its competence as laid down in the constitution. government bills are presented to the islamic consultative assembly after receiving the approval of the council of ministers. the islamic consultative assembly

has the right to investigate and examine all the affairs of the country. international treaties, protocols, contracts and agreements must be will have to deal with, we have serious problems in this regard and the parliament can help them be resolved, issues such as income tax, car imports and the like are still unresolved, and the 12th parliament will have to reach a conclusion on such issues, at the same time it should help

control inflation. another challenge has to do with foreign policies, we're still faced with sanctions and we have to get rid of them if we want to improve the economic situation, in this regard the... parliament can help the government and our diplomats by giving them free rain in their negotiations so they can proceed in accordance with our national interest. mr. muhammadi meanwhile said that the challenges. wouldn't be all economic? another challenge has to do with our society and culture. over the past few years we have had lot of discussions over hijab, the next parliament has to deal with it. the hijab bill has not been passed yet, issues such as marriage, population growth and the like or also among the other issues the next parliament will have to address. in case of war or emergency conditions aiken to war, the government has the right to impose. temporarily restrictions only with the agreement of the islamic consultative assembly. in no case can such restrictions

last for more than 30 days. if the need for them persists beyond this limit, the government must obtain new authorization from the assembly. by the same token, all changes in the boundaries of the country are forbidden, except minor amendments in keeping with the interests of the country, on condition that they are not unilateral, do not encroach on the... independence and territorial integrity of the country and receive the approval of 4/5th of the total members of the assembly. in mr. muhammad's opinion, if the majority of people go to the polls, the country is very likely to have a parliament of greater efficiency. few things have undermined the status of the parliament over the past years, one is that the np's level of competency has decreased in recent years. this subsequently has adversely affected their performance in law making and

supervision. this is undermine the credibility of parliament as decision-making organ. meanwhile, people are not sure how successful the next mps will be in fulfilling their promises. having said that, the parliament can be the most effective body in the country if it is filled with the most officient candidates who reflect society as a whole. this parliament can be the best place in the... that's said, the assembly cannot enact laws contrary to the rules and principles of the official religion of the country or contrary to the constitution. we also said with director of newspaper affiliated to the reformists. he told us that the parliament has to keep pace with people's needs and demands. demands have changed, the world has become a more complicated place,

given the fact that the nation's demands have both increased and changed, i hope the next mps will take these new demands into consideration, establish meaningful connections with different groups in society, in particular the youth and university students and move in the same direction the public wants. information about palestine abounds on social networks, many times without context. they do not allow us to go deeper and understand all the dimensions of a catastrophe that is dragging on for centuries. and mayor of palestinian origin opens a window to palestine to understand in

depth the present cause of the palestinian people, exploring its history and future prospects. do not miss a window to palestine. there's plenty more to be said, but first a quick media review to give other outlets a chance to get awarded. hello everyone, welcome to the news section of the program. we will go over some news pieces. on february 17th, iranian interior minister ahmad wahidi announced that 103 parties and 20 electoral coalitions declared their readiness for the forthcoming late winter election. minister vahidi further. revealed that several other coalitions are also gearing up for participation. according to shora gc, vahidi

commended the qualification of an impressive 15,000 candidates or the parliamentary election. he highlighted the diverse backgrounds of the candidates, noting that among them are 1,100 professors, 250 doctors, 1,700 teachers, 400 judges and 1,700. showcasing the breathth of expertise and representation within the pool of qualified candidates as iran braces for election, politicians says future is in the hands of people. in an interview with farse news on sunday, ali akbar salihi stressed the importance of active participation in the impending parliamentary elections, stating that it is not merely a recommendation, but rational decision. tehran times writes, underscoring the crucial role of unity in determining the country's faith, he urged citizens to join hands and actively take part

in the electoral process. emphasizing the power of collective action, salehi, who was for. minister from 2011 to 2013 noted that standing together mitigates potential differences, including political disagreements. rais: active participation in elections creates a strong iran. as sharql osad writes, iranian president ibrahim raisi urged iranian citizens on friday to make a correct and informed choice to create a strong parliament. raisy spoke through a video conference on friday during the opening of 200 nationwide radio and television. election campaign channels. election, main pillar of islamic establishment. leader. the leader of the islamic revolution, ayatollah sayid ali khamenei says that the elections are the main pillar of the islamic establishment. shard delhi rights, referring to the upcoming parliamentary elections and the assembly of experts elections, which are scheduled to be held on march the first. the

leader stated that everyone should participate in the elections, stressing that elections are the... main pillar of the islamic establishment. the elections are the way to reform the country, he added. he further stressed that political differences should not affect the national unity of the iranians against the enemies. the leader of the islamic revolution stated that the arrogant block is undoubtedly against iran's elections, adding that the elections are the symbol of the islamic establishments, republicanism. and that brings us to the end of this new section. let's go back to. traditionally, the competition in parliamentary elections has been between two major political groups, the reformists and the principalists, but this time around, is the competition still between these two? would you please break down the candidates in terms of their political affiliations?

affiliations of the candidates, i have to say that in the application forms that we have to fill in, we don't ask about their political affiliations, but according to the information provided by the provincial headquarters, 4,73 people stand as independent candidates, 2,725 people as principalists and 1,560 people as reforms. we have no information. about the rest, it could be said that the three major groups have a strong presence in the elections. the principalists, sometimes referred to as conservatives, have several electoral lists in the capital city of tehran, which has a share of 30 seats in the parliament. currently they make up the majority of the assembly and apparently have no difficulty in

keeping their law-making seats. on paper, the principal is traditional rivals, however, don't seem to stand. should ask for more time to do the vetting process in no rush, it seems that it cannot do this job in a short period of time. that said, the guardian council is the legal part the political system, and by and large, it cannot be said that the council has conflicts of interests in approving or disqualifying the candidates, it acts in accordance with

the law, but again i think it cannot do the vetting job within a very limited period of time, and for it had better to act based on the presumption of innocence, while some of the reformers have boycotted the elections, the majority of their fellows have encouraged people to go to the polls. in the run up to the election, 110 reform activist published a statement calling for participation in the elections to open a window in the assembly which is now dominated by the principalists. a statement like the one known as: the window opening statement shows that the majority of the reformists will take part in the elections. that happens despite the fact that number of reformist candidates did not receive final approval. from the guardian council to stand for parliament. a considerable number of candidates, however, have no apparent affiliations to these two major political groups, something almost new

in the history of iran's parliamentary elections since 1979. this year, the guardian council set a new recording process by approving the majority of candidates seeking to run in the parliamentary elections. number is almost twice the number of the last elections, more than 15,200 candidates for 290 seats. this is a big number. around 75% of those who registered to stand as candidates got final approval from the guardian council. a great number of these candidates are independent and have no political affiliations with the two major political groups, the reformers and the principalist. the last election was held in 2020 against the backdrop of anti-west sentiments following the us assassination of lieutenant general qasim soleymani. this time

the iranian people will go to poles while many of them feel the sting of economic pressures caused mainly by us sanctions. the country's economy is in the duld drums a mid us-let's sanctions which intensified after washington's unilateral withdrawal in 2018. from the iran nuclear deal, also known as the jcpoa. inflation is officially about 40%. discontent over wages and working conditions is rife, and the currency which had stabilized in 2022 has lost about 10% in value in the past month. now all eyes are on the new mps. can they find a way out of the situation? what can or should they do in this regard? mr. ali pog. an iranian economic expert believes that the country has enough laws and rules to improve its economy and the parliament should revise its priority list.

if you ask me about the next parliament's responsibility in the realm of economy. i think its most important job is supervision and amendment of laws. mean, the next parliament should shift this focus from passing new laws to revising the existing laws and instead give it. priority to supervision to see, for example, which laws have been implemented or not, another point that the new parliament should pay attention to, is the issue of contradictor rules and laws. if the new parliament really wants to address economic issues and problems, it should take what i said into serious considerations. the country's enemies have pinned their hopes on the current economic situation, wishing it would discourage people from taking part in the elections, but the fact is that over the past four decades, despite all its ups and downs, iran has had one of the highest turnout in the region if not across the world. while many countries in

this corner of the world are still unfamiliar with the ballot box, the iranian people have long exercised their will through the most democratic method. it behooves people to take part in the elections, both in terms of religion and national interests. i've been to number of... small and big cities across the country, people are talking about the upcoming elections with enthusiasm, but some people are dancing to the tune of the enemies, calling for a boycott of the elections, though in vain. i have no doubt that people will go to the polls just like they did in the past. currently, the region is enngulfed in various crises, at the same time, our enemies have launched hybrid warfare against us, orchestrating unrest in the country as they did. last year, so i think that the iranian people will go to the polls to show their unity against the enemies and they don't recognize those who have boycotted the elections as their true

representatives. even under the worst of circumstances, such as the iraqian imposed war which took eight years, the iranian people never stopped going to the poles. this year, emits the hybrid warfare launched against the country, they will cast their votes, a manifestation of true democracy. have farfethed ramifications that might linger on for decades. i would like to tell the new mps to avoid passing new laws and instead trying to find what they want in the

existing laws. then organize them and resolve the existing contradictions and give priority to the implementation and supervision of those laws. that's all for today, thank you for watching from the whole team. please do join us again same times next week to see what else is on. you can also follow us on telegram and x. till next time, take care. the subject of this week's episode of iran take is behind this 60 centimeter thick concrete wall inside the neutron imaging laboratory at the atomic energy organization of iran very close to the core of the reactor is kind of imaging system known as neutron radiography that has some very specific use case scenarios where x-ray imaging just

doesn't cut it. tune into this week's episode to see. how neutron radiography works um well in the 1981 hungrer strike there was initially there was only four people ever going to be on it um that began with b and frank and pan and um and then one of them day that there would be be just so there's ever only ever going to be four on it one time, but in june it was decided to increase the numbers on it, so each monday someone you joined it, not because someone had died but because we bringing up the number so i joined on the which was the last one out of that four and to join on the 20, but that time um four people had already had already died.

the headlines, millions of iranians are heading to the post to elect members of the country's parliament and the assembly of experts. the leader of iran's islamic revolution calls on voters to cast their ballots. in the early hours of voting saying that a high turnout will disappoint the ill wishers of the nation, and human rights chief warns israel's ground invasion of the southern gaza city of rafa would incur potentially massive loss of life on people sheltering there.