Rohani: Everyone Should Be Able to Participate in Elections Freely

Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, called on Tuesday, February 7, for everyone to be able to participate in elections freely, questioning, "How valuable are elections if we start committing God's sins from now?" According to ISNA news agency, Rouhani stated, "There are some specialists in violence, and I don't know which school they have been trained in." Speaking at the annual book award ceremony at the Vahdat Hall in Tehran, he remarked, "Some people enjoy fighting, violence, and military campaigns," adding, "We are a nation with a revolution, a constitution, leadership, a government, culture, and identity, and we are Iranians. So why should we be against each other?" Rouhani's comments come at a time when Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, the Minister of Interior, had stated earlier this year that he would definitely run in the 2017 presidential elections and requested the Ministry of Interior to hold a "legal and fair" election. The presidential elections are scheduled for May 29, 2017. Rahmani Fazli also mentioned that Rouhani emphasized that "the neutrality of government institutions is very important to me." In previous elections in the history of the Islamic Republic of Iran, there have been discussions about influence or fraud in vote counting, notably the protests against the 2009 election results. Some media outlets and conservative political figures have announced that Rouhani's presidency will be a one-term affair and that he will not be elected next year. Meanwhile, there are speculations about the possibility of Rouhani being disqualified by the Guardian Council. Previously, Majid Ansari, the legal deputy of the President of Iran, reacted to Mohsen Rezaei's support for the Revolutionary Forces Front, stating that military personnel's involvement in elections, even behind the scenes, is prohibited. The "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" was established on December 26. Mohammad Hossein Rahimian, a former representative of the Supreme Leader in the Martyrs Foundation, is the head of this group, with other conservative figures such as Mehdi Chamran, Yahya Al-e Es'haq, Alireza Marandi, and Hamidreza Hajibabaei among its members. Mohammad Baqer Zolqadr, the former deputy of the Revolutionary Guards, is also the executive head of this new group. Zolqadr's membership in the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" is notable as he is the strategic and crime prevention deputy of the judiciary, and no report has been published regarding his resignation from this position. Majid Ansari, in an interview with Khabar Online, stated that he has no knowledge of the essence of Mohsen Rezaei's presence in the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolutionary Forces" meeting, but "certainly, those in military positions cannot enter party, factional, and political classifications." He also urged "the people, supervisory, inspection, and judicial bodies" to be sensitive to the "presence of military personnel in party, factional, and political classifications." Rouhani's deputy referred to Ayatollah Khomeini's statements, the founder of the Islamic Republic, describing military involvement in politics as "a lethal poison." Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, on October 16, communicated the general policies of elections in 18 articles to the heads of the three branches of government and the head of the Expediency Discernment Council. Article 16 of these policies prohibits "favoring candidates" by armed forces and the three branches and intelligence and security agencies. However, Ali Saeedi, the representative of the Supreme Leader in the Revolutionary Guards, stated after the announcement of these policies that political activity is "part of the essence" of this institution. Previously, Revolutionary Guards officials denied the institution's interference in elections while claiming they engage in "clarifying and enlightening" political currents. In recent years, the Revolutionary Guards' involvement has led to protests from some political figures, with some members of parliament, including Ali Motahari and Mostafa Kavehbi, objecting to this institution's interference in elections.