Delegates to the International Convention

The National Assemblies have a second function that gives the whole structure its shape. Every five years each of them sends its full membership as delegates to the International Convention in Haifa, which elects the Universal House of Justice.

That makes the chain of authority continuous and traceable. A believer votes for delegates; the delegates elect a National Assembly; the National Assembly's members vote for the Universal House of Justice. Every level is elected, no level is appointed, and the highest institution in the Faith is reachable from an individual believer's ballot in three steps. Baha'i writing treats this as one of the distinguishing features of its administrative order, and it is the counterpart to the appointed arm of Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members, which runs the other way and holds no governing power.

The arrangement depends on National Assemblies being able to exist and to function, which has not been possible everywhere. In Iran, the Faith's country of origin, Baha'i administration was suppressed and the national institutions were disbanded, and the community there has been without them for decades. Recording that is part of describing the office honestly: a structure that assumes an elected national body in every country describes an aspiration as well as a practice.