Iran’s president seeks more free and fair elections

Iran’s president entered a row over thousands of disqualified election candidates Thursday, taking a barely veiled swipe at a powerful committee that chooses who can run for parliament. But a candidate vetting process controlled by a body comprised of officials who owe their spot either directly or indirectly to the supreme leader, and which disqualifies the vast majority of the applicants because they are not considered loyal enough supporters of Khamenei and his hardline allies, is hardly a democracy. “On this basis only one percent of reformists were approved”, he said.

“If there is one faction and the other is not there, they don’t need the February 26 elections, they go to the parliament”, Rouhani said, laughing but then scorning such a prospect.

“No official without the vote of the people would be legitimate”.

Rouhani’s intervention came after the Guardian Council said only 40 percent of all candidates had been deemed eligible.

Barring moderates from running for election is seen as a tactic by hard-liners anxious that Rouhani’s success in lifting sanctions under a landmark deal with world powers will give moderates an electoral boost.

The Ministry’s spokesperson, Hosseinali Amiri, said 814 applicants were dropped in an initial review and the rest were passed on to election oversight committees across the country set up by the Council of Guardians.

Rouhani, pledging to end the nuclear crisis, was elected in a landslide in a reaction to the rule of Ahmadinejad, under whom sanctions had bitten ever deeper, crippling Iran’s economy.

Of over 12,000 hopefuls who applied to run in the February parliamentary elections, around 4,700 have been approved by the Guardian Council, which is responsible for vetting candidates.

He said that while religious and other minorities – such as Jews, Christians and Zoroastrians whose combined population in Iran numbers less than 500,000 – have four members in parliament in total, larger groups should also be represented.

Rouhani asks, “what about a faction that has up to 10 million supporters”— a reference to the estimated number of supporters of moderates and reformists.

Mr Rouhani said that he had assigned Vice-President Eshagh Jahangiri to discuss the disqualifications with the Guardian Council.

Rouhani insisted the government didn’t back any political faction but it wanted more dialogue to ensure “impartiality and a sound rivalry” at the polls.

That vote is seen by many as more important than the parliamentary election as the assembly’s potentially greatest task would be to pick Khamenei’s successor, should he die in office.