The struggle to shake up a decade of conservative dominance over
Iran’s two major political institutions is set to kick off in earnest on
Thursday, when candidates are officially allowed to begin their
week-long campaigns before two important elections.
Iran’s interior ministry on Tuesday finalised the full list of approved candidates for the next parliamentary election, due on 26 February, after the Guardian Council blocked a significant number of reformist contenders during the vetting process.
On the same day, Iran will also hold the election for the next Assembly of Experts, an influential clerical body in charge of appointing the supreme leader. Both elections are a battleground between hardliners already in power and moderate and pro-reform figures seeking a comeback.
The outcome will have significant consequences for the president, Hassan Rouhani, in the remaining two years of his term and will affect his chances of seeking re-election next year.
Despite widespread disqualifications, reformists are pulling out all the stops to make sure fewer hardliners will enter the next parliament, or Majlis, according to Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, an Iranian reformist political activist now at Harvard University.
“Reformists from all different parties have put aside their differences after many years to agree on a joint list of candidates in an unprecedented form of coalition aimed at blocking hardliners from entering the parliament,” he told the Guardian.
The reformists’ patron is former president Mohammad Khatami, who faces restrictions on his movement and activities but is leading from behind the scenes.
In Tehran, the reformists on Tuesday issued their joint list of 30 candidates they want to enter the Majlis from the capital. It is led by Mohammad Reza Aref, an influential reformist figure whose decision to stand down in the 2013 presidential election in favour of Rouhani was crucial in the moderate figure’s victory.
Also on the list is Ali Motahari, the parliament’s sole current outspoken MP – a rare conservative figure who is also critical of the ruling establishment.
Iran’s interior ministry on Tuesday finalised the full list of approved candidates for the next parliamentary election, due on 26 February, after the Guardian Council blocked a significant number of reformist contenders during the vetting process.
On the same day, Iran will also hold the election for the next Assembly of Experts, an influential clerical body in charge of appointing the supreme leader. Both elections are a battleground between hardliners already in power and moderate and pro-reform figures seeking a comeback.
The outcome will have significant consequences for the president, Hassan Rouhani, in the remaining two years of his term and will affect his chances of seeking re-election next year.
Despite widespread disqualifications, reformists are pulling out all the stops to make sure fewer hardliners will enter the next parliament, or Majlis, according to Mohammadreza Jalaeipour, an Iranian reformist political activist now at Harvard University.
“Reformists from all different parties have put aside their differences after many years to agree on a joint list of candidates in an unprecedented form of coalition aimed at blocking hardliners from entering the parliament,” he told the Guardian.
The reformists’ patron is former president Mohammad Khatami, who faces restrictions on his movement and activities but is leading from behind the scenes.
In Tehran, the reformists on Tuesday issued their joint list of 30 candidates they want to enter the Majlis from the capital. It is led by Mohammad Reza Aref, an influential reformist figure whose decision to stand down in the 2013 presidential election in favour of Rouhani was crucial in the moderate figure’s victory.
Also on the list is Ali Motahari, the parliament’s sole current outspoken MP – a rare conservative figure who is also critical of the ruling establishment.
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