Election Without Nomination, and the Scope of Its Legislation

The election is unusual enough to be worth setting out. Every five years the members of the National Spiritual Assemblies of the world meet as an International Convention and elect nine people by secret ballot. There are no nominations, no candidates, no campaigning and no declared willingness to serve. Electors are told to vote for those they believe best qualified, and any adult male Baha'i in the world is eligible. Membership is restricted to men, which is one of the very few distinctions of that kind in Baha'i administration; the Baha'i writings state the restriction without explaining it and say that the reason will become clear, and the community discusses it on that footing.

Its legislative scope is defined by what scripture has already settled. Where a matter is expressly laid down in the revealed texts, the House does not legislate; where it is not, the House may enact, repeal and re-enact as conditions change, and Baha'is regard it as divinely guided within that sphere. It also administers the Baha'i funds, oversees the World Centre, appoints the Continental Boards of Counsellors and the International Teaching Centre, and issues the plans, currently in multi-year cycles, that direct community activity worldwide. Its annual message to the Baha'is of the world at Ridvan is the closest thing the faith has to a state of the community address.