Chamber of Commerce Elections in a Country with a Weak Private Sector

Radio Farda - The eighth round of the Chamber of Commerce elections will be held on Monday, March 9, in all provinces of Iran. Fahimeh Khodr Heydari asks economist Fereydoun Khavand about the role of the Chamber of Commerce in the country's economic activities. Fereydoun Khavand: In all countries, including Iran, Chambers of Commerce are legally categorized as 'non-governmental organizations' and essentially represent a part of civil society composed of business representatives. The effectiveness of the Chamber of Commerce in a country depends on the weight of the private sector in that country and its authority in the domestic arena and economic diplomacy. In Iran, with the most optimistic assessments, more than about seventy percent of the economy is under government control, and the degree of economic freedom is very limited. Under these conditions, the Chamber of Commerce naturally cannot have a strong influence, even though it has a relatively long history. The first Chamber of Commerce in Iran was established in 1926. After the summer of 1941, the law for the establishment of the Chamber of Commerce was approved, which later, in 1969, led to the formation of the Chamber of Commerce, Industries, and Mines through its merger with the Chamber of Industries and Mines, and recently agriculture was added to it. The elections of the Chamber of Commerce, both before and after the revolution, have naturally aligned with the degree of electoral freedom in Iran, and the management of this institution has never been free from political influence. Will something happen in today's Chamber of Commerce elections that represents a significant change compared to previous periods? It seems that there are hopes that today's elections will be held more freely, considering that there is less government interference and competition appears to be greater than before among groups that have come to the scene under various titles: 'Development Activists Assembly', 'Coalition for Tomorrow', 'Transformation Seekers', 'Progressive Entrepreneurs Center', etc. We must wait and see where this competition leads. What conditions need to exist for the Chamber of Commerce to truly become a 'parliament of the private sector'? The first condition is the level of participation of business owners in these elections, which has been low so far, and we must see if there has been a change today. The second condition is that of the 535 members who will be elected to the representatives of the Chambers of Commerce, a decisive majority must be representatives of the real private sector, not bureaucrats from the public sector or managers of quasi-state companies and entities known as 'privatized'. The third condition is the weight of the youth. We must see to what extent the older generation will be willing to make way for the youth, who should ideally play the main role in pulling the country's economy out of its current dire situation.