Guardian Council Sets Conditions for Electronic Municipal Elections

While the oversight of municipal elections in Iran is the responsibility of the Parliament, the spokesperson for the Guardian Council announced that this council has informed the Ministry of Interior that "sufficient conditions" must exist for the use of electronic ballot boxes in these elections so that the presidential elections are not "affected." Oversight of city and village council elections is under the jurisdiction of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the Guardian Council has no responsibility in these elections. According to the IRIB news agency, Abbasali Kadkhodaei, the spokesperson for the Guardian Council, on Saturday, January 1, discussed the possibility of holding city and village council elections entirely electronically, stating that the Guardian Council does not have the "necessary legal authority" for municipal elections. He also added: "It has been communicated to the Ministry of Interior that sufficient conditions must be in place for the use of electronic ballot boxes and that it should not overshadow the presidential elections." Mr. Kadkhodaei emphasized in this interview that the council has not yet approved the electronic voting boxes prepared for the 96 presidential elections, but cooperation with the Ministry of Interior is "progressing." Previously, Amir Shojaian, the director general of communications and information technology at the Ministry of Interior, had announced an agreement between this ministry and the supervisory board for the municipal elections to hold these elections entirely electronically in 96. Meanwhile, Mohammad Mahmoudi Shahneshin, a representative from Shahriar in Parliament and the head of the central supervisory board for municipal elections, announced that electronic council elections would be held in 11,000 polling stations. The Iranian government approved the plan for the electronic execution of the tenth parliamentary elections and the fifth Assembly of Experts elections last June, but the Guardian Council ultimately did not approve the electronic conduct of these elections. Guardian Council officials have cited "lack of necessary infrastructure" and the need for legal changes as reasons for their opposition to holding elections electronically. "The sedition... is taken into account in the qualification assessments" The spokesperson for the Guardian Council announced that the issue of protests against the 2009 presidential elections, or as he calls it, "sedition," is still a criterion for evaluating candidates in various elections. Abbasali Kadkhodaei stated: "The sedition of 2009 cannot be forgotten and is considered in the qualification assessments." The leader of the Islamic Republic and his close associates refer to the protests against the results of the 2009 presidential elections as "sedition." Members of the Guardian Council had previously stated that "sedition is a red line" for this council in assessing the qualifications of election candidates. Additionally, according to reports, many candidates for the tenth parliamentary elections were disqualified due to allegations of participation in the protests against the 2009 presidential elections. In recent days, many officials of the Islamic Republic have severely attacked Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, leaders of the Green Movement, in speeches held by governmental bodies on the occasion of the 9th of Dey rally.