Elections in Iran
Iran elects on national level a head of state and the head of government (the president), a legislature (the Majlis), and an "Assembly of Experts" (which elects the Supreme Leader). City and Village Council elections are also held every four years throughout the entire country. The president is elected for a four-year term by the citizens. The Parliament or "Islamic Consultative Assembly" ("Majlis-e Shura-ye Eslami") currently has 290 members, also elected for a four-year term in multi- and single-seat constituencies. Elections for the Assembly of Experts are held every eight years. All  candidates have to be approved by the Guardian Council. See Politics of Iran for more details. Until January 2007, when it was raised to 18, the voting age was 15 years, the lowest globally at the time. The most recent presidential and local elections were held on 19 May 2017 simultaneously. The most recent parliamentary election and the most recent Assembly of Experts elections were held on 26 February 2016. The nature of the elections in Iran have been a contentious issue. Since the inception of the Islamic Republic in 1979, many Western governments, human rights groups, independent observers and  dissident organizations have described the post-Imperial elections as sham elections since its political system is considered regularly labelled as anti-Western, undemocratic, authoritarian and totalitarian governed by the Supreme Leader.