The Presidency of the Assembly of Experts Will Not Reach the 'Dissenters'

In recent years, no one has been more revolutionary and aligned with the policies of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic than the Secretary of the Guardian Council. Therefore, the vote for Ahmad Jannati in an assembly where most representatives are ideologically close to the Supreme Leader is not surprising. However, political decision-making in the Assembly of Experts is relative and changes according to the current political conditions. Throughout all periods of this assembly, almost all its members have been appointees and close associates of the current leaders of the Islamic Republic. Moreover, individuals who have diverged from the leadership of Ayatollah Khomeini or Ayatollah Khamenei have never been able to enter the Assembly of Experts or its presidency, such as Ahmad Azari Qomi during Ayatollah Khomeini's leadership and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani during Ayatollah Khamenei's leadership. The message of Ahmad Jannati's presidency, with 51 votes against 21 for Ebrahim Amini, was a response to the request of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, who had addressed the fifth Assembly of Experts, stating that the representatives' responsibility was to 'safeguard the Islamic and revolutionary identity of the ruling system in the country and guide the intertwined institutions of this system.' In his last meeting with the previous Assembly of Experts in Esfand, Ayatollah Khamenei emphasized that the Assembly of Experts is revolutionary and must remain so. Jannati's rival in this election, Ebrahim Amini, was considered 'moderate.' He seemed dissatisfied with the government's treatment of protesters during the Friday prayers in Qom in 2009 and even stated in a sermon that individuals should not be rejected solely for minor disagreements with the Supreme Leader. This position led opponents to chant 'Death to anti-Velayat Faqih' against Amini, and he subsequently did not attend Friday prayers in Qom anymore. It is also said that the 91-year-old Ayatollah opposed the house arrest of Ayatollah Montazeri and failed to reach an agreement with Ayatollah Khamenei on this matter. Additionally, he was someone who protested the disqualification of Hassan Khomeini and visited the founder of the Islamic Republic's tomb to console the grandson of Ayatollah Khomeini. Given such clear political positions and the fact that Akbar Hashemi was Amini's main supporter, the reason for Amini's 21 votes against Jannati's 51 becomes clear. The competition for the presidency of the Assembly of Experts had begun long before. It started when the fifth election of this assembly faced numerous political controversies, resulting in the elimination of Mohammad Yazdi, the Secretary-General of the Society of Teachers, and the President of the fourth Assembly of Experts, as well as Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, the head of the Imam Khomeini Institute. On the other hand, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the head of the Expediency Discernment Council, managed to secure the first vote in Tehran and rebuild his political position, which had been limited since the 2009 presidential election. In such circumstances, the presidency of the Assembly of Experts also gained importance, and the reliance of each faction on the president's chair could indicate the victory of their discourse. Of course, this competition for Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had even begun before the fifth Assembly elections. After the death of Ali Meshkini, the president of the first, second, third, and five months of the fourth term in 2007, in an assembly with a composition roughly similar to the new Experts, it was Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who, with 41 votes, succeeded Ayatollah Meshkini, while the Secretary of the Guardian Council could not win this competition with 34 votes. However, with the events of the 2009 presidential election and the differing positions of Hashemi and the Supreme Leader, the tide turned in the Assembly of Experts. By the end of his two-year presidency, the red chair of the presidency was no longer assigned to Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. In the new term, he preferred to maintain his position, considering the political atmosphere and the high vote he received, and did not run for candidacy. He announced that he did not intend to present himself for the presidency and that simply being present in the Assembly was 'good.' After the death of Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, he also entered the competition and, with 24 votes against 47 for Mohammad Yazdi, could not secure the presidency. This was not only Hashemi Rafsanjani who saw his position in the Assembly change due to his disagreements with the leadership. After the first Assembly of Experts began its work on July 23, 1983, the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary nominated Ayatollah Ahmad Azari Qomi for the presidency of the Assembly. However, he could not surpass Ali Meshkini. Azari Qomi was also a 'conservative critic' of Ayatollah Khomeini on some issues, including being the leader of the opponents of Mir Hossein Mousavi's second premiership despite the founder's insistence, and he divided the Supreme Leader's orders into 'advisory and authoritative rulings.' Azari Qomi did not hesitate to publish his explicit criticisms, especially in the economic field, in the newspaper Resalat, of which he was the editor-in-chief. These disagreements caused Ayatollah Khomeini to be displeased with Azari Qomi. As Mohsen Kadivar wrote in his book 'The Ups and Downs of Ayatollah Azari Qomi,' his failure to assume the presidency of the Assembly was not without effect on losing the presidency of the Society of Teachers. The second election of the Assembly of Experts was unprecedented. After the death of Ayatollah Khomeini and the leadership of Ayatollah Khamenei, the members of the Assembly approved the Guardian Council's supervisory authority for examining the qualifications of candidates for the Assembly of Experts. The result of this decision was to prevent many close associates and allies of Ayatollah Khomeini and left-wing forces from entering the second Assembly. Among those disqualified were Mehdi Karroubi, Hossein Mousavi Tabrizi, Mohammad Khatami, Sadegh Khalkhali, Ali Akbar Mohtashami, Hadi Khamenei, Mohammad Hashemi, Bayat, Ali Mohammad, and Ali Asghar Dashtgheib, among others. This action, which was fully supported by the Society of Teachers of Qom Seminary, led to many protests. The Combatant Clergy Association at that time wrote in part of a lengthy statement: 'What guarantee exists that in the distant future, if the motivation for autocracy for leadership arises, it will be removed by the Assembly of Experts? An Assembly that has been appointed by the leader's influence in their selection.' However, widespread protests were fruitless, and ultimately, as a sign of protest, Mohammad Mousavi Khoiniha, the senior political advisor to the leader at the time, Abai Khurasani, the head of the Islamic Propagation Office of Qom Seminary, and Mohammad Reza Tosuli, a member of Ayatollah Khomeini's office, also withdrew their candidacies. In such an atmosphere, a nearly homogeneous assembly of close associates of the newly appointed leader was formed. Ayatollah Ali Meshkini also returned to the red chair of the presidency and held this position until his death. He was someone who defended both the leadership and the authority of Ayatollah Khamenei during the selection of Ayatollah Khomeini's successor. Meshkini also presided over the third Assembly with the vice-presidency of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. With the death of Meshkini, political rivalries gradually escalated again. In the September 2006 session, Akbar Hashemi defeated Jannati and officially became the president of the Assembly for the first time. However, his term was short-lived. One of the costs of his critical positions regarding the leader's performance and his close associates during the events of 2009 was the loss of the red chair of the presidency. Nevertheless, his replacement, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani, was someone who was acceptable to both factions of representatives and clerics. His presidency did not last long, and after his death, Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani was 'forced' to run for candidacy, although he did not succeed, and Mohammad Yazdi took Mahdavi Kani's place with 47 votes. With Mohammad Yazdi's failure to enter the fifth Assembly of Experts, it was now Jannati's turn, the Secretary of the Guardian Council and the person responsible for examining the qualifications of candidates, to compensate for his defeat and claim the presidency. However, one point should not be overlooked. In the election of the board, Sadegh Larijani, appointed by the leader in the judiciary, failed to secure the necessary votes for the vice-presidency of the Assembly. Sadegh Larijani is mentioned as one of the prominent figures close to Ayatollah Khamenei for leadership after him. Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, who is also said to be a potential candidate for future leadership, failed in his first attempt for the presidency of the Assembly. The voting results for them are completely contradictory to Jannati's votes. In other words, in an assembly with a similar structure, three closely related figures received votes with different meanings. Therefore, it seems that what influences the decision-making process in 2009 is the positions and demands of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. However, it is unclear whether this composition of votes will remain the same after Ayatollah Khamenei.