Two days after the spokesperson of the Guardian Council introduced the finalization of the candidate record for the Iranian regime’s upcoming Majlis (parliament) elections, Iranian media printed the names of some disqualified candidates.
The regime’s semiofficial ISNA information company reported on January 6 the names of 26 present parliament members who’ve been disqualified.
According to the report, many former political activists and officers have additionally been disqualified. Among them, the disqualification of former intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi and former MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh has attracted media consideration.
Mahmoud Alavi served because the Minister of Intelligence for eight years and was concerned within the regime’s crimes and suppression of opponents. It is price noting that the Minister of Intelligence is instantly appointed by the regime’s supreme chief Ali Khamenei and is due to this fact from among the many most loyal individuals to the regime’s chief. Alavi’s disqualification is important for a number of causes. First, it exhibits that Khamenei is shedding assist from amongst his closest circle of loyalists. And second, it exhibits that the regime is shedding its tolerance for even the slightest signal of disagreement with its chief. These additional push away the facade of democracy that the regime has tried to keep up via its elections.
The state-run Fars News Agency additionally reported that Fereydoun Hemmati, the previous governor of Hormozgan and Qazvin provinces throughout Hassan Rouhani’s administration, has additionally been disqualified from operating for the Majlis.
The causes for the disqualification of well-known figures, particularly present parliament members, haven’t been printed but, however Iranian media beforehand reported that disqualified candidates had criticized sure plans and payments, such because the “Protection Plan.”
Disqualification of election candidates shouldn’t be unique to the parliamentary elections, as there are additionally restrictions within the presidential elections, Assembly of Experts elections, and metropolis councils.
The disqualification of Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founding father of the Islamic Republic, was one of the crucial controversial disqualifications within the Assembly of Experts elections.
Just a few years in the past, Sepanta Niknam, a former member of the Yazd City Council, acknowledged that he was disqualified on account of his Zoroastrian religion and “non-compliance with Islam within the metropolis council elections.”
In 2021, then-speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, in a letter to the Guardian Council, criticized the explanations for his disqualification within the presidential elections as “inaccurate and a low-level pretext.” (The Guardian Council, whose 12 members are appointed by Khamenei and a circle of his loyalists, oversee totally different issues of state, together with the qualification of election candidates.)
At the identical time, Morteza Agha Tehrani, a Majlis member, instructed disqualified people that they need to “reform” themselves.
He added throughout the earlier parliamentary elections, “We shouldn’t scare the individuals. This shouldn’t be the best way to query the system. The system doesn’t will let you try this. They tolerate you somewhat after which they take care of you.”
The twelfth spherical of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections might be held on March 1, 2024, to find out the representatives for the twelfth time period of the parliament (290 representatives for a four-year time period).