A Study of the Impact of Local Political Culture on Elections Competitions in Iran (Case Study: Mamassani City)

Iran is a land inhabited by many tribes, groups, cultures and different factions; passing through turbulent history. These peculiarities have put Iran in a special social and geographical place and as such Iran is called the crossroad of historical events. Due to tribal structure of Mamassani-Rostam Islamic Council constituency, in recent two decades a few weeks before the elections, elections competitions reach its peak. The paper concludes that although clan affiliations existed in the past elections but in recent two decades it has been intensified and there is severe competition between different clans to get managerial posts through victory of their candidate in elections. On the whole one can say that the characteristics local political cultures of Mamassani city residents are: 1) role of clan affiliation and nepotism in appointment of key managerialposts; 2) patriarchy system; 3) the impact of clan affiliations on election competitions;4) tribal and clan affiliations as an obstacle on the way of political development.