Iran is a hybrid. It's not democratic because: 1. Supreme Leader has all the power and President's power is very limited. 2. Candidates are "vetted" by the re

Iran is a hybrid. It's not democratic because: 1. Supreme Leader has all the power and President's power is very limited. 2. Candidates are "vetted" by the regime. Therefore, people can elect but the choices are limited to a few people regime has accepted. 3. During Ahmadinejad, even the vetted candidate who was popular and got the vote wasn't really acceptable by the regime so they completely ignored the vote and just named Ahmadinejad as the winner. Basically, the real government is the IRGC. Elected goverment is the one who does the legwork and also the blame because officially they are in charge but practically they are not. It's like you have a boss who delegates you all the responsibility but none of the authority. You will be responsible but you cannot make any calls.