Iran's Cabinet to Soon Review 'Comprehensive Election Bill'

The political deputy of Iran's Interior Minister announced that the comprehensive election bill, consisting of 100 articles, has been approved by the government's political commission and will soon be reviewed in a cabinet meeting. On Tuesday, March 7, Ismail Jabbarzadeh told reporters that the bill was sent to the cabinet for review on the second of Esfand. According to Mr. Jabbarzadeh, this bill includes four election laws for the presidency, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, the Assembly of Experts, and Islamic councils, containing more than 100 clauses and articles. He also commented on the qualification of women for the presidential elections and the condition of 'political man', stating that the interpretation of this constitutional condition for presidential candidates is the responsibility of the Guardian Council and cannot be interpreted with ordinary laws. Currently, Iran's laws for presidential elections, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, city and village councils, and the Assembly of Experts are separate, and this comprehensive election bill is the first to encompass all four elections. In recent years, the laws governing these four elections have been changed several times. Interior Ministry officials had previously announced that the comprehensive election bill had been informally presented to the Research Center of the Parliament so that the government and parliament could approve it in a short period. The government of Hassan Rouhani also presented a bill for transparency in the sources and expenses of election candidates to the ninth parliament on Wednesday, November 20, 2015, but this bill has not yet been approved. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic issued 'General Election Policies' to the heads of the three branches and the head of the Expediency Discernment Council in 2016, emphasizing the 'determination of the limits and types of permissible and impermissible election expenses and sources', 'transparency of election sources and expenses', and 'prohibition of using foreign support and resources, whether financial or promotional, by candidates and parties, and timely action by relevant authorities'. The fifth note of paragraph 10 of the directive also emphasizes 'defining and announcing the criteria and conditions necessary for determining the political, religious, and managerial qualifications of presidential candidates by the Guardian Council'. After the issuance of these policies, the Guardian Council announced that it is interpreting the condition of 'political man' for presidential candidates. Since the 1979 revolution, the qualifications of female candidates in presidential elections have not been approved, leading to criticism from human rights organizations and women's rights activists. According to the Islamic Republic's constitution, the Guardian Council, which is responsible for reviewing and ensuring the compliance of parliamentary resolutions with Islamic law and the constitution, as well as overseeing presidential elections, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and the Assembly of Experts, consists of six jurists appointed by the Supreme Leader and six legal experts proposed by the judiciary and voted on by the parliament. The Guardian Council has disqualified thousands of candidates in each parliamentary and presidential election and has stated that, in addition to inquiries from authorities such as the Ministry of Intelligence, the judiciary, and law enforcement, it conducts local investigations about candidates. Some government officials and political analysts deem this action by the Guardian Council illegal, arguing that the council does not have the right to conduct local investigations about candidates according to the law. Based on a resolution approved by the Expediency Discernment Council in 1999, the authorities responsible for reviewing candidates' qualifications 'must only examine candidates based on legal provisions and valid reasons and documents sent by responsible legal centers to executive and supervisory authorities', and if they reject a candidate's qualification, 'they must inform the candidate of the reason for the disqualification'. However, many disqualified candidates in past elections have stated that they were not informed of the reasons for their disqualification and were only told the legal provisions under which they were disqualified.