Limitations on the Freedom of Parties; A Comparative Study of Iranian and French Constitutions

Freedom of political parties has been predicted by Iran's constitution (Article 26) and the French Republic (Article 4), as essential components of democratic systems within a defined framework for the parties to operate. Although freedom of political parties and organizations in human rights documentations were expressly mentioned, it is possible that the performance of them might cause damage to the rights and freedom of others, public order and security along with health and public morality. Therefore, foreseeing some limitation on their formation and function is conceivable. However, according to the procedures of human rights documentation, restrictions on the fundamental rights of mankind takes places based on a minimalist and exceptional approach, because restrictions on political parties’ activity in France’s constitution ends up in two principles of democracy and national sovereignty with unique and minimalistic approach. Whereas the Iran’s constitution considers these limitations in broader concepts such as: independence, freedom, national unity, Islamic standards and principles of the Islamic Republic of Iran, however; the scope and extent of such concepts are obviously in conflict with Translation errorcomponents of human rights and democracy. The result showed that a broad interpretation of national sovereignty in the French legal system could be a threat as same as the general concepts of Article 26 in Iranian constitution. This study examines different aspects of limitation of parties’ freedom in Iran’s and France’s constitution.