Khodkhodai: Members of the Guardian Council are human too and may make mistakes

The spokesperson for the Guardian Council of the Islamic Republic states that the members of this council are also 'human' and may 'make mistakes', but like other institutions, they must be 'accountable for their actions'. Abbasali Khodkhodai made this statement at a meeting of the principlist organization 'Union of Independent Islamic Student Associations'. Khodkhodai acknowledged that 'I accept that mistakes happen, but the effort is to minimize them.' He added that the Guardian Council, like any other institution in the Islamic Republic of Iran, must be accountable for its actions, and 'we are ready to respond at any moment and do not shy away from it, and we do not make exceptions for ourselves.' Welcoming 'criticism', he noted that 'especially if the criticisms come from revolutionary students interested in the system, we will also make use of them.' The spokesperson further stated that 'in the matter of qualifications, the election law has stipulated conditions and obstacles. We are obliged to examine the individual's behavior. How can we monitor a person's belief and commitment? Mistakes may also occur; we are human like you.' He also mentioned that in the area of elections, 'initially, accurate documents and information may not reach us. When 12,000 people register in a 50-day period, and each file is about 100 pages, and the results must be announced on time, there is a possibility of error because it is a human action.' While the spokesperson of the Guardian Council easily speaks of the possibility of human error in this council, the members of this body have never been held accountable for their actions. The performance of the Guardian Council, especially regarding the qualification of election candidates, has always been controversial and seriously criticized. Among the well-known disqualified candidates by this council is Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had registered to run in the 2013 presidential election. Additionally, several members of this council, including Ahmad Jannati, are accused of supporting certain candidates, including Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad, who has recently criticized the entire management and system of the Islamic Republic after a case was opened against some managers from his presidency, has accused this council of 'engineering' the elections. In a recent open letter addressed to Ali Khamenei, he requested the dismissal of the head of the judiciary and the holding of 'immediate and free' elections without the interference of 'law enforcement agencies' and 'the engineering of the Guardian Council' in the country. In response, the spokesperson of the Guardian Council accused Ahmadinejad of attempting to 'engineer the elections'. Khodkhodai, in his Telegram channel, recounted a memory from 'Tuesday, June 15, 2009', stating that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 'insisted' that the Guardian Council quickly confirm the election results. He also claimed that this council 'resisted' Ahmadinejad's 'insistence' and said that first, the complaints of other candidates must be reviewed. Mehdi Karroubi, a presidential candidate in 2009 who has been under house arrest without trial since February 2011, also wrote in a letter to the Supreme Leader that during his leadership, he has 'changed the functions of institutions and organizations such as the IRGC, Basij, Guardian Council, revolutionary institutions, Friday prayer leaders, and state media according to his views and policies.' Regarding the presidential election of that year, he wrote to Khamenei that 'in 2009, you confronted the people and spoke to them with severity, dismissing the possibility of fraud. But when your preferred candidate loses with a significant margin under the complete oversight and interference of his supporters in the Guardian Council, you speak of serious action against the violations?'