52 Representatives Criticize the Approval of 'Problematic' Individuals in Council Elections

A number of parliament representatives criticized the approval of 'problematic' individuals in the council elections by the Central Supervisory Board in a letter to Ali Larijani. According to a report on Tuesday, May 23, in Nasim Online, 52 representatives claimed 'widespread violations' by the Central Supervisory Board regarding the council elections in their letter to the Speaker of Parliament. The letter stated that this board approved the candidacy of individuals with a history of 'moral, financial corruption, alcohol consumption, or severe security issues.' These 52 representatives did not mention any specific individuals they claimed had these issues but asserted that these individuals had been 'formally rejected by the Ministry of Intelligence and other legal and security authorities.' In addition to criticizing the approval of 'problematic candidates' late on the night before the elections, they expressed regret over the disqualification of 'individuals who had campaigned for a week, incurred expenses, and had no specific issues, late on the night before the Friday elections.' The letter noted that these two events allowed 'a number of problematic individuals with financial, moral, and security issues, which had also been formally mentioned in repeated inquiries by the four legal authorities,' to enter city councils. These representatives criticized the Central Supervisory Board for creating a situation where 'there was no opportunity to clarify and criticize the security, moral, and financial issues' of these individuals. According to these 52 representatives, this issue caused 'irreparable damage to the positions of city and village councils, which are local parliaments, and has affected the dignity and status of the Parliament,' and therefore should be referred to 'the Board of Supervision over the Conduct of Parliament Representatives and the Article 90 Commission of Parliament.' This letter was written while the head of the country's election headquarters had previously stated that the number of candidates disqualified by supervisory and executive boards had reached about 14,500. Nonetheless, conservative media had criticized the approval of some candidates for the elections who had been arrested during the protests against the 2009 presidential election. Gholamhossein Esmaili, the head of the Tehran judiciary, also criticized the 'disregard' for the opinion of the judiciary regarding the approval of some former political prisoners to participate in the council elections and called for their disqualification. It seems that Abdollah Momeni, a former student activist, spokesperson for the Graduates Organization of Iran (Odwār-e Tahkīm-e Vahdat), and officials of the election headquarters of Mehdi Karroubi and Emad Bahavar, head of the youth branch of the Freedom Movement of Iran, both of whom were arrested in 2009 and recently released after five years in prison, are among these individuals. Unlike other elections in Iran, which are overseen by the Guardian Council, the supervision of council elections is the responsibility of a board of about 90 members composed of parliament representatives.