Ministry of Interior Receives Final List of Approved Candidates for Parliament

The Iranian Election Headquarters confirmed on February 15 that it has received the final list of individuals approved by the Guardian Council for the parliamentary elections, with campaigning set to begin on February 17. The Guardian Council had stated that the deadline for reviewing complaints from election candidates ended on the evening of February 14. According to ISNA news agency, the definitive names of the candidates for the Islamic Consultative Assembly will be sent by the Ministry of Interior to electoral centers and districts. Previously, Siamak Rahpeyk, spokesperson for the Central Supervisory Board on Elections, had stated that the qualifications of 40 out of 150 remaining candidates had been approved. However, ISNA quoted Mohammad Hossein Moqimi, head of the National Election Headquarters, stating that the qualifications of '38 out of 147' candidates had been approved. The same news agency reported that 'unofficial news indicates the approval of 9 more candidates in Tehran.' The names of these individuals are not yet specified. Mr. Rahpeyk mentioned that with the new approvals, the number of candidates has reached 6,340. On February 9, the spokesperson for the Iranian Ministry of Interior stated that the Guardian Council had approved 6,175 candidates, representing 51% of the candidates, while 5,252 candidates were disqualified. A comparison of the statistics shows that the number of disqualified candidates in the tenth parliamentary elections is higher than in all previous rounds. The head of the National Election Headquarters told ISNA that with the announcement of the final list to electoral districts, campaigning will begin on February 17 and will continue for one week. According to the Iranian Election Headquarters, nearly 55 million citizens are eligible to vote, and for the elections on March 7, 120,000 ballot boxes are planned.