Iran’s president has called on the committee vetting candidates for next month’s parliamentary elections to allow more reformists to stand. From over 12,000 hopefuls who had applied to run, around 4,700 have been approved by the Guardian Council that vets candidates.
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Ahmad Jannati, head of Iran’s powerful Guardian Council, in charge of disqualifying thousands of applicants in the upcoming parliamentary elections.
But his deputy, Siamak Rahpeik, said it’s likely that up to 15 percent of those disqualified from running will be reinstated during the reviewing process.
Moreover, Iranian websites also announced that both Rouhani and Larijani are planning to sit down for discussions with the Guardian Council.
Hassan Rouhani’s intervention came days after it emerged that only one per cent of reformists seeking to become legislators had been deemed eligible to contest the ballot on February 26.
But Iranian media reports indicate the Guardian Council, a vetting body made up of clerics and jurists, has disqualified the majority of candidates close to Rouhani and reformists keen to increase freedom of expression in Iran.
Some lawmakers fiercely opposed Iran’s concessions that led to the nuclear deal, despite the long-running talks having the backing of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “Only those who believe in the Islamic Republic and its values should be allowed to enter parliament”, Khamenei said.
The Feb. 26 parliamentary elections will “determine the domestic policies of the administration”, said Rouhani, who will now be focusing on domestic issues after the implementation of the nuclear deal with the six world powers. Many were disqualified because they were not seen to be sufficiently loyal to the ruling system, as defined by hard-line council members.
Rohani has vowed to use all his constitutional powers to reinstate those candidates who have been barred.
Rouhani, speaking in Tehran to an audience of provincial governors, appeared to criticise the Guardian Council, the committee that so far has barred around 60 percent of candidates in total. “It will remove the psychological pressure on the people…and more importantly, it will reduce worldwide pressure on our country by not giving them any excuses to take sides against us”. “Yet there is a faction in this country with seven or 10 million”, he added, again alluding to reformists and receiving wide applause.
Rouhani and many USA policymakers have been hoping that the Reformist candidates would make substantial gains in Parliament.
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With next month’s parliamentary elections failing “to meet minimum global standards for free and fair elections”, Green said that he holds out little hope for internal political reform in Iran.
