Assembly of Experts: Judiciary Must Address Electoral Violations Decisively

The Assembly of Experts issued a final statement at its third official meeting, calling on the judiciary to address the "violations" of the recent presidential and city and village elections in Iran. This statement, published on Wednesday, September 20, emphasizes the necessity of preserving and protecting revolutionary forces during the elections, a point also made by Ahmad Jannati, the head of the Assembly, a day earlier. Jannati expressed concern over electoral violations, fearing that "revolutionary forces may be repelled and non-revolutionary forces attracted." The final statement of the new fifth Assembly of Experts specifically addressed this issue, stating that the body "requests the judiciary to decisively investigate electoral violations." During the recent presidential elections, which resulted in Hassan Rouhani's victory, Ibrahim Raisi, one of the main candidates, accused government officials of widespread and engineered violations. Raisi claimed that in this election, "all the resources of ministries, governorships, and health services were used for the government candidate's campaign." While the Assembly of Experts called for addressing electoral violations and other issues in its final statement, it notably did not engage in discussions about oversight of the leadership and the institutions under its purview, which is the main responsibility of this assembly according to the Islamic Republic's constitution. Ahmad Jannati, who also serves as the secretary of the Guardian Council, the body overseeing elections, confirmed discussions about legal violations in the recent elections, stating that "official government officials, including governors and mayors, committed violations that led to judicial proceedings." Jannati referred to reports published about two months ago indicating that four governors from the eleventh government have been charged in the government employees' court. These governors include Asadollah Darvish Amiri, governor of Zanjan; Fereydoun Hemmati, governor of Qazvin; Mohammad Nasir Nikbakht, governor of Hamadan; and Gholamreza Shariati, governor of Khuzestan. In this context, "issuance of arrest warrants for two governors and summons for five governors" due to electoral crimes, Chaharmaghz's protest against the lack of recounting of Tehran's ballots; "we will file a complaint"; the Ministry of Interior: if the voting time is extended, the Guardian Council would invalidate the elections; Ayatollah Jannati: violations occurred in the 96 presidential election; Jannati: some have problems with the velayat-e faqih.