Assessing the contexts affecting the financial costs of parliamentary elections in Iran (Focusing on the tenth term of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections in Rasht Township)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Faculity of Economics and Political Science Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran,iran

2 Faculty of Economics and Political Science,Shahid Beheshti University,Tehran, Iran

3 Faculity of Economics and Political Science Shahid Beheshti University,Tehran.iran

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the factors affecting the: Election Campaign Finance of parliamentary elections in Iran. The spatial scope of this study was the financial expenses of the candidates for the Islamic Consultative Assembly in the tenth election of Rasht Township in Guilan province. This study was conducted in the period of spring 2020 to the end of spring 2021. The main question that the researcher sought to answer is: What are the factors affecting the financial costs of the parliamentary elections in Iran? The mixed method was used to achieve the research objectives - distributed a questionnaire with a sample size of 379 people and semi-in-depth interviews with ten activists and parliamentary candidates.In terms of theoretical framework, both the agency and rational choice of political actors and the impact of the structures and institutional position of the political electoral machine in Iran have been considered. The results of the study showed that the most important factors influencing the methods of financing parliamentary elections in Iran are: historical contexts and political culture, political knowledge of voters, MP-citizen linkage, citizens' attitudes toward the electoral system, number and variety of sponsors and their motives, the type of political system, social and political divisions, and the economic situation of society. Among the mentioned factors, the citizen's relationship with the memberof parliament and the type of political system have the most impact on how the parliamentary elections are financed. Almost 95% of the respondents emphasized that in authoritarian electoral regimes, the short-term interests of citizens, especially their sponsors, take precedence over other matters, and that there is a kind of institutionalized supportive relationship that goes beyond the issue of elections and for reproduction and continuity during the past decades have affected all aspects of the lives of citizens in different parts of the province, and by weakening the democratic process, it has provided numerous and complex contexts for all kinds of corruption. The findings also suggest that in order to reduce the adverse consequences of the methods of financing and spending political money, current laws should be reviewed and the experiences of other countries should be used.

Keywords

References

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International Journal of New Political Economy
Volume 2, Issue 2
2021
Pages 67-94

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History

  • Receive Date: 18 September 2021
  • Accept Date: 18 September 2021
  • First Publish Date: 18 September 2021
  • Publish Date: 01 October 2021

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