Rouhani at the Government Ceremony of February 22: People Will Not Vote for 'Disputatious and Extremist' Individuals

The government rally marking the 37th anniversary of the victory of the Iranian Revolution was held two weeks before the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections in Tehran and other cities in Iran. In this ceremony, the President of Iran stated that people will not vote for those who are 'disputatious and extremist.' On the sidelines of this event, which took place a month after the arrest of ten American sailors, a reenactment of their arrest was staged, and the presence of a man in women's clothing during these reenactments received significant attention on social media. According to ISNA news agency, Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, said on Thursday, February 22, in his speech that in the upcoming elections, people will vote for those who, according to him, 'want to abide by the law, not those who are disputatious and extremist.' Rouhani emphasized that 'no one,' even those who have 'criticisms of the system and government,' should 'boycott' the ballot box. He added, 'If an individual or a group has grievances and has faced hardships, they must decisively go to the ballot boxes. The people's vote will have the final say.' On February 13, the President had also urged the public to 'be aware that their presence at the ballot boxes is very, very important' and that 'no one should boycott the election for any reason.' He stressed that all institutions must act in a way that 'no suspicion of engineered elections arises in anyone's mind.' This call comes as approximately 300 university professors in Iran expressed their concerns in an open letter to Rouhani about the widespread disqualification of candidates for the elections, stating that not holding what they termed non-competitive and unfair elections is preferable to holding them. According to statistics released by the Ministry of Interior, the Guardian Council has approved the qualifications of 6,175 candidates, which is 51% of the candidates, while 5,252 candidates have been disqualified. Comparing the statistics released by the Deputy Minister of Interior and the percentage of disqualified candidates in previous periods, the 10th parliamentary elections will have the highest disqualification rate compared to previous elections. In the first parliamentary election, 46% were disqualified, in the second 20%, in the third 19%, in the fourth 28%, in the fifth 39%, in the sixth 26%, in the seventh 44%, in the eighth 37%, and in the ninth 35% of candidates were disqualified. Meanwhile, Ashraf Boroujerdi, head of the Reformist Women’s Assembly, stated that Rouhani's consultations for the approval of 270 disqualified candidates have been fruitless. In the Assembly of Experts elections, out of 800 candidates, only 161 have been approved, with notable disqualified candidates including Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini. Campaigning for the Assembly of Experts elections began on Thursday. However, according to ILNA news agency, campaign posters for Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, head of the Expediency Discernment Council, which were installed along the route of the February 22 rally, were 'collected.' These posters featured pictures of Rafsanjani alongside Hassan Khomeini and Hassan Rouhani. Additionally, campaign posters for the conservative coalition were 'widely' installed along the route of this rally. The reenactment of the arrest of 10 American sailors was also reported by Iranian news agencies, where individuals dressed similarly to American sailors were seen kneeling on the back of a vehicle moving among the marchers, holding their hands behind their heads. Meanwhile, a man wearing women's clothing for the reenactment of the arrest of a female sailor in this incident has received significant attention on social media. A day before this rally, Iranian state television released a video showing one of the arrested American sailors crying, which the U.S. Navy condemned. Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, was also present at the ceremony on Thursday. In recent months, several reports about Soleimani being injured have been published, but Iranian officials have denied these reports.