Representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC on Qualifications: Responding to the Council's Inquiry is Not Interference

Ali Saeedi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), stated on Tuesday, February 15, that the IRGC has responded to the Guardian Council's inquiry regarding the qualifications of candidates for the upcoming elections, and this action does not constitute interference in the elections. According to Tasnim, Saeedi, who spoke at a press conference concerning future elections, expressed: 'The reason for holding this press conference is to respond to the insinuations of some foreign media and internal elements.' He added that since some foreign media and certain internal elements are showing sensitivity towards the IRGC's role in the elections, this press conference was organized. According to ISNA, Saeedi further addressed the ambiguity regarding the IRGC's involvement in the qualification process, stating: 'The Guardian Council may have inquired from the IRGC regarding qualifications, and the IRGC has responded, as individuals may not have judicial convictions but possess records that are not officially registered. Responding to the Guardian Council's inquiry does not mean interference in the elections; rather, it signifies accountability to the country's legal institutions.' While the representative of the Supreme Leader claims that the IRGC has responded to an official authority, critics of the Guardian Council's disqualifications have previously stated that according to law, only legal centers such as the Judiciary, Ministry of Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and Civil Registration are authorized to inquire about the status of election candidates. In this context, Mustafa Tajzadeh, a jailed member of the Participation Front, wrote in an early February letter to the Supreme Leader, referring to the Expediency Council's resolution regarding the examination of candidates' qualifications: 'The legally responsible centers' for responding to inquiries about candidates' qualifications, according to this resolution, are the Judiciary, Ministry of Intelligence, Law Enforcement, and Civil Registration, not 'legal but non-responsible institutions in elections' like the IRGC and Basij. According to the Expediency Council's resolution, passed in 1999, the bodies responsible for examining the qualifications of candidates 'must only evaluate candidates based on legal provisions and valid reasons and documents sent by legally responsible centers to executive and supervisory bodies,' and if they reject a candidate's qualification, 'they must inform the candidate of the reasons for the disqualification.' Tajzadeh revealed that at the time of the resolution's approval in the Expediency Council, only Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, and one or two other members of this council did not vote in favor. 'The IRGC has not interfered in the elections and does not intend to,' the representative of the Supreme Leader in the IRGC continued. 'The IRGC does not intervene in specifics; that is not its essence, but the inherent duty of the IRGC is to clarify the scenes.' More than twelve thousand individuals had registered as candidates for the tenth round of the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, and according to the spokesperson for the Central Election Supervisory Board, as of Tuesday, the number of candidates whose qualifications have been approved has reached six thousand three hundred and forty. For the fifth round of the Assembly of Experts elections, 801 individuals had registered, of which the Guardian Council ultimately approved 161. The disqualification of several candidates for the Assembly of Experts, including Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini, has led to protests. In this context, Najatollah Ebrahimi, a legal member of the Guardian Council, had previously stated in rare remarks that he has no information about the details of the qualification examinations for Assembly of Experts candidates. This legal member of the Guardian Council emphasized that the mechanism for examining the qualifications of Assembly of Experts candidates is not the same as that for the Majlis and that the legal members of this council do not play a role in examining the qualifications of Assembly of Experts candidates. Ebrahimi stated that all six jurists of the Guardian Council were not involved in examining the qualifications of Assembly of Experts candidates. This legal member of the Guardian Council said: 'This issue is also specified in the law for the Assembly of Experts elections, but in practice, the grounds for this oversight have not yet been provided by the esteemed Secretary of the Guardian Council. I am waiting for the grounds for this oversight to be established so that I can express my opinion after being informed about the process and how qualifications are verified.' The elections for the Majlis and the Assembly of Experts will be held on March 1.