This is the second in a series on parliamentary elections due in March 2012:
- First parliament (1980-1984)
Speaker: Yadollah Sahabi (for one month in mid-1980); Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (1980 to 1984)
Political trends: The first parliament was the most eclectic. It included deputies from the liberal Freedom Movement.
- Second parliament (1984-1988)
Speaker: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ((1984-1988)
Political trends: The second parliament was almost completely taken over by the cleric-dominated Islamic Republican Party (IRP). But divisions within the IRP created a raucous and feisty atmosphere.
- Third parliament (1988-1992)
Speaker: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (April 1988 to August 1989); Mehdi Karroubi (August 1989 to May 1992)
Political trends: The third parliament was elected after a split among clerical groups and the 1986 disbanding of the IRP, so the new members mostly came from groups on the left of the political spectrum.
- Fourth parliament (1992-1996)
Speaker: Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri (1992-1996)
Political trends: Candidates for the fourth parliament were heavily vetted by the Guardian Council, which paved the way for a takeover by conservative forces.
- Fifth parliament (1996-2000)
Speaker: Ali Akbar Nateq-Nouri (1996-2000)
Political trends: The highly contentious election for the fifth parliament created a Majles with relative balance between conservatives and a new political centrist organization called the Servants of Construction.
- Sixth parliament (2000-2004)
Speaker: Mehdi Karroubi (2000-2004)
Political trends: Reformist President Mohammad Khatami was elected in 1997, which contributed to a decisive victory for reformists in the sixth parliament.
- Seventh parliament (2004-2008)
Speaker: Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel (2004-2008)
Political trends: The Guardian Council’s wholesale disqualification of reformist candidates set the stage for the return of conservatives to power in the seventh parliament.
- Eighth parliament (2008- )
Speaker: Ali Larijani (2008- )
Political trends The conservative dominance continued in the eighth parliament, again through aggressive vetting of reformist candidates by the Guardian Council.
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