Disqualification of Dozens of Council Election Candidates Based on Prosecutor's List

Simultaneously with reports of 'interference' by security and judicial institutions aimed at disqualifying former political prisoners, the spokesperson for the Central Supervisory Board of Council Elections announced that 30 candidates were disqualified after a list was provided by the prosecutor's office. Farhad Tajari, spokesperson for the Central Supervisory Board of Council Elections, announced on Wednesday evening, May 20, that a meeting was held at the Attorney General's office regarding the confirmation of candidates for the council elections. According to Mr. Tajari, at the end of this meeting, the political and security deputy of the prosecutor provided him with a list of 70 individuals convicted by revolutionary courts, 30 of whom had registered as candidates for the council elections. He reported that the names of these 30 individuals were 'communicated to the Ministry of Interior and they were disqualified.' The disqualification of these individuals in the past two days comes while, according to the law on council elections, the Central Supervisory Board cannot interfere in the work of the county and provincial supervisory boards regarding the confirmation of candidates and the validation of election results. However, on Thursday, the head of the judiciary in Tehran criticized the 'disregard' for the judiciary's opinion, objecting to the confirmation of some former political prisoners to participate in the council elections and calling for their disqualification. In contrast, Ali Motahari, the deputy speaker of parliament, criticized the pressure from 'non-relevant institutions' including the judiciary and the Supreme National Security Council to disqualify several candidates. On the evening of Thursday, May 20, the Ministry of Interior published the complete list of candidates for the city council in Tehran. According to reports, this list does not include the names of some former prisoners who had previously been confirmed by the county and provincial supervisory boards, including Abdollah Momeni, Ali Tajernia, and Nasrin Vaziri. Marouf Samadi, a Sunni political activist and representative of Sanandaj in the fifth parliament, who had been confirmed by the Tehran provincial supervisory board and was on the reformist list, was also disqualified by the Central Supervisory Board of Council Elections. In this context, Abdollah Momeni stated in a statement that 'some security and military institutions' pressured the Central Supervisory Board of Council Elections to disqualify him by 'raising some unfounded concerns, including regarding the political significance of the number of votes' he received. He expressed regret over this 'illegal' action of the Central Supervisory Board of Council Elections, adding that this decision 'only serves to exacerbate despair and hopelessness among certain groups of people at this critical time when the fate of our country depends on encouraging more people to participate in elections.' Abdollah Momeni is a former student activist, spokesperson for the Graduates Organization of Iran (Advar Tahkim Vahdat), and one of the officials of Mehdi Karroubi's electoral headquarters in the 2009 presidential election, who was released after nearly five years in prison. Emad Bahavar, head of the youth branch of the Freedom Movement of Iran, was also a candidate in the council elections but was disqualified. He was arrested in Esfand 88 and released after five years in prison. Ali Asghar Ahmadi, head of the country's election headquarters, announced on Saturday, May 16, that supervisory boards had disqualified another 4,500 candidates for the council elections, bringing the total number of disqualified candidates by these boards and executive boards to about 14,500. Unlike other elections in Iran, which are overseen by the Guardian Council, the supervision of council elections is handled by a board composed of representatives from the parliament. This board includes about 90 members of parliament, among whom there are both principlist and reformist representatives.