5. THE NEW ELECTORAL LAW OF JULY 1, 1909
(promulgated on the twelfth of Jumádá ii, A.H. 1327).
Preamble.
Whereas, in accordance with the requirements of the time, certain articles of the Regulations for the election of Members to the National Consultative Assembly were seen to need alteration, agreeably to the Command, irresistible as Fate, of His Most Sacred Royal and Imperial Majesty (may God immortalize his dominion and rule) a Commission was formed of well-wishers to the Nation in co-operation with members of the [former] National Assembly, comprising twenty members and deciding by a majority of votes, to construct a new Electoral Law.
And whereas attention had been directed to four articles in the Fundamental Law having reference to the matter of the Elections, the modification of which articles was inconsistent with the principles above-mentioned, in order to remove this difficulty the above-mentioned Commission, with the concurrence of the well-wishers of the more important provinces of Persia, submitted the more important articles of the Electoral Law which it had drawn up to the chief centres of the kingdom, and delegated their powers in this matter to the Ázarbáyján centre. The most competent members of that important centre approved the modification of the four articles above-mentioned, and further added remarks on other material points. Thereafter, having due regard to the observations of the Azarbayjan centre, this Electoral Law was written and codified, subject to this provision, that after the National Assembly shall have been auspiciously opened, it shall, conformably to the option assigned to it by the Fundamental Laws, exercise its discretion as to the confirmation, rejection or emendation of each article of the Electoral Law.
In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Forgiving.
