Two days after the spokesperson of the Guardian Council announced the finalization of the candidate list for the Iranian regime’s upcoming Majlis (parliament) elections, Iranian media published the names of some disqualified candidates.
The regime’s semiofficial ISNA news agency reported on January 6 the names of 26 current parliament members who have been disqualified.
According to the report, many former political activists and officials have also been disqualified. Among them, the disqualification of former intelligence minister Mahmoud Alavi and former MP Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh has attracted media attention.
Mahmoud Alavi served as the Minister of Intelligence for eight years and was involved in the regime’s crimes and suppression of opponents. It is worth noting that the Minister of Intelligence is directly appointed by regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei and is therefore from among the most loyal people to the regime’s leader. Alavi’s disqualification is significant for several reasons. First, it shows that Khamenei is losing support from among his closest circle of loyalists. And second, it shows that the regime is losing its tolerance for even the slightest sign of disagreement with its leader. These further pushes away the facade of democracy that the regime has tried to maintain through its elections.
The state-run Fars News Agency also reported that Fereydoun Hemmati, the former governor of Hormozgan and Qazvin provinces during Hassan Rouhani’s administration, has also been disqualified from running for the Majlis.
The reasons for the disqualification of well-known figures, especially current parliament members, have not been published yet, but Iranian media previously reported that disqualified candidates had criticized certain plans and bills, such as the “Protection Plan.”
Disqualification of election candidates is not exclusive to the parliamentary elections, as there are also restrictions in the presidential elections, Assembly of Experts elections, and city councils.
The disqualification of Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, was one of the most controversial disqualifications in the Assembly of Experts elections.
A few years ago, Sepanta Niknam, a former member of the Yazd City Council, stated that he was disqualified due to his Zoroastrian faith and “non-compliance with Islam in the city council elections.”
In 2021, then–speaker of the parliament, Ali Larijani, in a letter to the Guardian Council, criticized the reasons for his disqualification in 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 different matters of state, including the qualification of election candidates.)
At the same time, Morteza Agha Tehrani, a Majlismember, told disqualified individuals that they should “reform” themselves.
He added during the previous parliamentary elections, “We should not scare the people. This is not the way to question the system. The system does not allow you to do that. They tolerate you a little and then they deal with you.”
The 12th round of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections will be held on March 1, 2024, to determine the representatives for the 12th term of the parliament (290 representatives for a four-year term).
These elections have never been democratic, and the qualifications of all candidates must be approved by the regime’s authorities.
