Positive developments have been slow and limited in scope, like the appointment by the government of three Sunni county governors belonging to the Turkmen, the Baloch and the Kurd minorities in 2017 and 2018. There are 324 counties in Iran, and therefore less than 1% are currently headed by a person belonging to an ethnic minority. While President Rouhani created a new post of Special Assistant to the President for Ethnic and Religious Minorities’ Affairs after his election in 2013, the person appointed to this position does not belong to any ethnic or religious minority himself. 47 In municipal executives as well, minorities remain largely under-represented. In September 2017, protests erupted in Ahvaz after the results of municipal elections showed that only three out of 13 seats on the municipal council had been won by Arab candidates, which many suspected was the result of fraud. The Baluchi, Kurdish and Turkmen minorities are also underrepresented in high- and medium-ranking political posts according to Minority Rights Group International.48 Additionally, Members of minorities face serious hurdles in accessing public sector employment due to the gozinesh process.49 Such process bars de facto minorities or anyone who is unable or unwilling to accept religious requirements (notably adhering to Islam) from seeking employment in the public sector.50 51 52 Similarly, women in Iran have a limited presence in decision-making bodies in the country. Women are completely prohibited from holding the position of Supreme Leader. Candidates for the presidency in Iran must be what the constitution refers to as Rajol-E- Siasi (“political men”).53 Though many argue that the phrase as a whole could be understood as “political persons,” without a specification as to gender, the Guardian Council of the Constitution, a body of Islamic jurists responsible for vetting candidates for elections, has never approved a woman to stand in presidential elections or elections to the Assembly of Experts.54 Additionally, no woman https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42313 &Lang=en 47 Joint submission to the Human Rights Committee, Abdorrahman Center, Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IHRDC), Impact Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran, 2020, https://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/15/treatybodyexternal/Download.aspx?symbolno=INT%2fCCPR%2fICS%2fIRN%2f42313 &Lang=en 48 Minority Rights Group International, Ceasefire Centre for Civilian Rights, Centre for Supporters of Human Rights, Rights Denied: Violations against ethnic and religious minorities in Iran, March 2018, p.28, accessible at: https://minorityrights.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/03/Rights-Denied-Violations-against-ethnic-and-religious-minorities-in-Iran.pdf 49 See http://rc.majlis.ir/fa/law/show/92541 (in Persian). 50 Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, 18 July 2019, https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2F74%2F188&Language=E&DeviceType=Desktop 51 Center for Human Rights in Iran, https://www.iranhumanrights.org/2017/05/most-yarsani-religious-minority-candidatesdisqualified-from-irans-2017-councils-elections/ 52 Baha’i International Community, Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Iran, 2019, https://undocs.org/Home/Mobile?FinalSymbol=A%2FHRC%2FWG.6%2F34%2FIRN%2F3&Language=E&DeviceType=Deskt op 53 Art 115, Constitution of Iran. 54 The council that should choose the Supreme Leader and its mandate is to monitor him. 6