Several Women Announce Candidacy on the First Day of Registration for the Assembly of Experts Elections

Following the registration of a woman to run in the fifth round of the Assembly of Experts elections from the Tehran electoral district, the political deputy of the Minister of Interior reported, without providing details, that several women have also registered as candidates in other provinces. According to the state news agency IRNA, Ismat Savadi, who holds a PhD in jurisprudence and law, registered on Thursday, December 26, as the 'first' female candidate in the fifth round of the Assembly of Experts elections. Ms. Savadi has previously served as the cultural deputy of the Islamic Azad University Research Unit and as the head of the professors' Basij at that university. Meanwhile, Mohammad Hossein Maqimi, the political deputy of the Minister of Interior, announced that apart from Tehran, women have registered in 'other provinces' for the Assembly of Experts elections. However, he did not mention the names of the provinces or the number of women who have registered as candidates. Mr. Maqimi also stated that there is 'no legal prohibition' against women's registration for the Assembly of Experts, but ultimately the Guardian Council must 'verify their qualifications.' Despite the fact that there is no explicit legal prohibition against women's candidacy for the Assembly of Experts, no woman has ever been a member of this assembly. In some previous rounds of the Assembly of Experts elections, a number of women had registered but ultimately withdrew. For instance, Zahra Safati, a professor at the advanced levels of the women's seminary, registered in the third round of the Assembly of Experts but withdrew. At that time, she stated in an interview with Kayhan Farhangi that Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani, a source of emulation in Qom, opposed her candidacy in a phone call, saying that they did not want women's candidacy in the Assembly of Experts to 'become a norm.' Registration for candidates in the fifth round of the Assembly of Experts elections began on Thursday morning at the National Election Headquarters and the governorates of provincial centers and will continue until December 23. Meanwhile, the political deputy of the Minister of Interior reported that by noon on Thursday, 65 people across the country had registered for the Assembly of Experts elections. Ahmad Khatami, Ali Razini, and Abbas Kabi, members of the Assembly of Experts, were among those who registered for this election on Thursday. Additionally, Mohsen Mousavi Tabrizi, a member of the reformist group of the Assembly of Researchers and Teachers of Qom seminary, and a former representative of the Assembly of Experts also registered to run in this election. Mr. Mousavi Tabrizi had previously registered for this election and also for the mid-term elections of the Assembly of Experts during the eighth parliamentary elections, but despite being approved for the Assembly of Experts elections, his candidacy for the parliamentary elections was rejected.