Iran to hold legislative elections next year: Official

By Mustafa Melih Ahishali

ISTANBUL

Iran plans to hold legislative elections early next year, local media quoted an official as saying on Wednesday.

Salman Sami, a spokesman for the Internal Affairs Ministry, told the Iranian Students News Agency that the country would hold its 11th legislative election -- along with mid-term polls for the influential Assembly of Experts -- on Feb. 21 of next year.

Iran holds legislative elections every four years, while polls for the Assembly of Experts are held every eight years.

The 86-member Assembly of Experts is a deliberative body with authority to designate -- or dismiss -- the country’s supreme leader.