House Cleaning in Parliament

The newspaper Shargh reported on its front page on March 1 that the "Hope List achieved a decisive victory in Tehran." The newspaper also dedicated its front-page photo to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Hassan Rouhani, stating that according to the counted votes, they "ranked at the top of the Assembly of Experts," while on the opposing side, Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi was unable to enter the Assembly this time, Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, is currently in eleventh place in Tehran, and Mohammad Yazdi, the head of the fourth Assembly of Experts, is now in fifteenth place among the 16 elected representatives from Tehran. The newspaper Etemad, with the headline "House Cleaning in Parliament," welcomed the results of the tenth round of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections and assessed the political leanings of the new representatives, stating that in the elections held on March 7, "reformists secured 96 seats, conservatives 91 seats, and independents 25 seats," while the fate of 52 seats was "drawn out to a second round." The newspaper emphasized that "so far, 13 female representatives have been elected" and mentioned the possibility of "three factions forming in the tenth parliament." Journalist Ehsan Badaghi, in a note for Etemad, pointed out that the results of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections are still "incomplete," stating that "of the 218 representatives confirmed to enter the tenth Majlis, 118 are reformists or independents. This means that more than 54% of the elected representatives are reformists. The situation may indeed be somewhat more concerning for conservatives." The writer of the Etemad note emphasized that "the situation may indeed be somewhat more concerning for conservatives," noting that "the results of the elections in Tehran and several other major cities are still pending; a result that at least until midnight Saturday was completely favorable to reformists" and the fate of 30 seats in Tehran "could disrupt any game for determining the composition of the parliament. Besides, the second round of elections is also on the way. As far as news was coming in last night, the competition for 52 seats in the parliament has been drawn out to the second round; a place where 104 candidates will compete, of which more than 56% are reformists or moderates and independents. This poses a greater danger for further disrupting the balance that conservatives intended to establish in the tenth parliament." The writer reminded that conservatives in the second round "can hope for one thing; the lower turnout of people in the elections compared to the first round." The newspaper Ebtekar, on its front page, emphasized that "people voted for both lists," printing images of the results announced by the Ministry of Interior's election headquarters, indicating the failure of Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi and the precarious positions of Ahmad Jannati and Mohammad Yazdi in the Assembly of Experts elections and similar positions for Gholamali Haddad Adel in the results of the Tehran Islamic Consultative Assembly elections. This newspaper also emphasized that "people responded to the hardliners with their votes" and in its Sunday editorial emphasized that "the people's choice is a vote for the will to change in a situation that has caused the country to stagnate in the arena of disputes due to exhausting rivalries between factions. Rival factions, whether those who received the most votes or the minority, need to understand the concept of the purposeful presence of people at the ballot boxes and, while complying with it, adjust and direct their actions accordingly." The newspaper Qanoon described the "decisive victory of the reformist coalition list in Tehran" as a "ray of hope in the sky of Iran," and its editor-in-chief, Ghasem Khorami, in a note titled "They did not lose; they became bankrupt," wrote: "The powerful and wealthy conservative current is not a rootless current, but unfortunately, they have for years soaked their roots, trunk, and branches in the water of social indifference. Their access to economic revenues and transnational political support has given them a sense of self-sufficiency from the people; they have taken on rent-seeking ethics and have distanced themselves from the social body and beliefs, and it can be said with certainty that conservatives have had no capacity or desire to participate in any electoral competition without political favoritism." The writer of the Qanoon newspaper pointed out that "conservatives, even their veterans and stalwarts, if they are not involved in the violation of public and citizen rights, such as expelling professors and marking students with stars, have certainly passed by indifferently on many occasions," and noted that "in this recent election, they remained magnanimously silent in the face of the widespread disqualification of their rivals and even sometimes joined the political currents that slandered and labeled the opponent as English." They even "considered the call for people to participate in the elections as a conspiracy and belittled and humiliated the national participation of the people" and "in many electoral districts, they were content with eliminating their rival before the competition." The Qanoon newspaper emphasized that conservatives are now "in a political maneuver defeated by a hypothetical enemy," stating: "Therefore, whoever wins this election will certainly not be conservatives. They not only lost but also went bankrupt and fell in this election. They are now trapped in their self-created contradictions and are left wondering how they can consider people's presence in the elections as epic when the result, in their view, was a vote for the English list!?" The newspaper Farheekhtagan, in a note titled "The Concerned Ones Who Were Left Behind," wrote: "Aside from individuals like Hamid Rasai whose qualification for the Majlis elections was not confirmed and someone like Rouhollah Hosseinian who did not participate in the elections, some other critics of the government could not gain the votes of the people and were left out of the tenth Majlis." This newspaper noted that these "concerned" representatives were so controversial at times that they would occupy opinions for several days, recalling that "Rouhollah Hosseinian threatened to bury Ali Akbar Salehi, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization, alive in the Arak reactor and pour cement over him," or Bahram Birarvand, a representative from Boroujerd, who criticized Mohammad Javad Zarif for losing to Barack Obama at the UN during the Iran and 1+5 agreement, saying, "Mr. Zarif has done too much wrong." The Farheekhtagan newspaper also pointed to the failure of Fathollah Hosseinian, the representative from Qasr-e Shirin, to enter the next parliament, referring to him as someone who wanted to physically prevent Ali Motahari from speaking out against the house arrest and noted that Mehdi Koochakzadeh approached Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif during a session and called him a "traitor" with "shouting and yelling," but "the performance of individuals like Koochakzadeh was even met with reactions from their friends, to the extent that he was not even included in the conservative list." Conservative-affiliated newspapers on Sunday attempted to downplay the victory of reformists and reported on the success of conservative candidates in the provinces. Even Abdullah Ghanji, the managing director of the newspaper Javan, in the editorial of this newspaper, wrote: "The trend of the country's obedience to the vote of Tehran has been halted since 1388, which can be attributed to the relative economic distance of Tehran residents from other people in Iran or the influence of satellite penetration and the political nature of Tehran compared to the rest of the country." The editorial writer of this newspaper, close to the Revolutionary Guards, in his note titled "How Should March 7 Be Understood?" wrote: "Reformists, without apology and without providing evidence of the 1388 fraud, took a step into the system in this election and tried to engage in confidence-building, but their virtual actions in undermining first-rate scholars were not few; however, their different behavior compared to the past somewhat helped them." The Javan newspaper also wrote: "The decisive victory of the Society of Teachers across the country in the Assembly of Experts elections also shows that the first-rate clerics of the country remain the axis of guidance and preaching for the people, and the rejection and approval of England has no impact on the national will of Iranians." The editorial writer of the Javan newspaper even mentioned the possibility of Gholamali Haddad Adel presiding over the tenth parliament, stating: "The expectation of reformists presiding over the parliament under Rouhani's government has turned into a mirage, and not only has it turned into a mirage, but the duality of Aref-Larijani may both sit at the bottom of the parliament while someone like Haddad Adel may preside." The Kayhan newspaper also wrote in the headline of its Sunday edition: "Conservatives hold the majority across the country." This newspaper, however, noted that "the initial statistics from Tehran indicate the lead of reformists." This newspaper also wrote: "The return of reformists to the elections, despite their history of 'exiting the governance', boycotting, and 'exiting against the governance', is the result of the joint discipline and training of the people and the system with the message that if you do not want to be conspicuous and accused, you have no choice but to accompany public opinion and the system." Kayhan simultaneously accused senior government officials of "spending the government’s resources and opportunities for the elections" and wrote: "It is not an exaggeration to say that two-thirds of the government's capacity in the past one or two years, especially in recent months, has been spent preparing for the elections." The Vatan-e Emruz newspaper, close to the Steadfast Front, reported on its front page about "Iran's vote for conservatives" and even wrote: "The results of the vote counting across the country indicate a 60% victory for conservatives in the tenth Majlis elections." This newspaper also reported on "tension in some counties" and wrote: "The close competition among some candidates has led to strong suspicions of electoral violations. In some districts, such as the Kohdasht constituency, reports of clashes among candidates' supporters have emerged. In this constituency, rumors about the throwing of sound grenades at the Kohdasht governorate have been circulated," and "violations in Boroujerd have also been numerous." Vatan-e Emruz also wrote that "the security situation in Yasouj has not been normal, and this issue has been exacerbated by the celebrations and rejoicing of the supporters of the winning candidate. In Mazandaran, three people have been arrested due to electoral violations."