The Last Survivor of the 'People's Experts' List Protests the Election Results in Tehran

Ayatollah Mohammad Sajadi, the only candidate from the 'People's Experts' list supported by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who failed to enter the fifth Assembly of Experts, has filed a complaint with the Guardian Council regarding the aggregation of votes in this election. The full text of this candidate's complaint from the Tehran electoral district for the fifth Assembly of Experts elections was published on Tuesday, March 2, by ILNA news agency. In his letter, Sajadi stated that he felt it necessary to protest against the 'aggregation of votes and the ballot boxes' whose numbers he attached, in order to 'defend the rights of the people.' He added that 'naturally, recounting these ballot boxes could eliminate doubts and dispel any suspicion regarding the integrity of the election.' Mohammad Sajadi was a member of the list that became known as the 'People's Experts' during the elections on February 26, and was supported by Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. Sajadi's name was also on the reformists and moderates coalition list known as the 'Hope List,' which was supported by former President Mohammad Khatami. Fifteen out of the sixteen candidates in this electoral list succeeded in entering the Assembly of Experts from the Tehran electoral district due to the votes of reformist supporters. The only remaining member of this list is Mohammad Sajadi, who has protested this issue after the election results were announced and called for addressing this matter. The sixteenth candidate who entered the Assembly of Experts from Tehran is Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the Guardian Council, whose name was on the 'Principlists Coalition' list. The announcement of Jannati as the last candidate to enter the Assembly of Experts from Tehran has faced doubts and ambiguities, given the votes of reformist supporters for the entire list supported by Hashemi and Khatami. Some reformist supporters argue that considering the coordinated voting for both reformist lists in the Assembly of Experts and the Islamic Consultative Assembly, Jannati's entry into the Assembly of Experts is unlikely. These doubts increase when all 30 reformist candidates in the Islamic Consultative Assembly from the Tehran electoral district managed to secure all the seats in the capital. Ahmad Jannati, along with Mohammad Yazdi and Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi, was targeted by a campaign called 'Negative Voting' aimed at removing these three from the future composition of the Assembly of Experts. This campaign succeeded in removing Yazdi and Mesbah Yazdi from the future Assembly of Experts, and its members have doubts about the announcement of Ahmad Jannati's presence among the elected members of the Assembly of Experts. Mohammad Sajadi has also protested to the Guardian Council to clarify these ambiguities and doubts, and Ahmad Jannati, as the Secretary of this council, must address his complaint.