Iran Supreme Leader addresses MPs, Tehran, May 27, 2021
The Supreme Leader has slapped down President Hassan Rouhani’s complaint about the banning of candidates in the June Presidential election.
Rouhani wrote Ayatollah Khamenei after the Guardian Council barred all but seven of the 592 candidates, including 1st Vice President Esh’aq Jahangiri, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, and former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
Addressing MPs on Thursday, Khamenei backed the bans, “The honorable Guardian Council did what it ought to do and deemed necessary based on its duties.” He told Iranians not to “pay attention” to those who “promote” an election boycott.
Let’s not go to the word of those who promote that it is useless, we will not go to the polls. Someone who is sympathetic to the people does not prevent people from going to the polls.
In a nod to Larijani, who accepted the ban, the Supreme Leader thanked disqualified candidates who “respected” the Guardian Council’s decision.
On Wednesday night, Ahmadinejad said in a video statement that he is boycotting.
Khamenei, whose intervention protected Ahmadinejad’s “victory” in the disputed 2009 Presidential election, “Participate in the elections, consider the elections as your own, and ask God for help and guidance.”
The Supreme Leader’s directive appears to back the hardliner favorite Ebrahim Raisi, who lost to Rouhani in the 2017 election. The ban on Larijani and Jahangiri removes two of the front-running challengers to Raisi, current judiciary head and former head of the wealthy religious foundation Astan Quds Razavi.
Former President Mohammad Khatami, issued a message: “What has happened these days during the introduction of the Presidential candidates is the result of an approach, perception, and action that has already narrowed the field for the people’s choice. This time it has emerged more openly and unequivocally.”
Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the Islamic Republic’s founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, defied the Supreme Leader’s call for participation, “If I were in the place of approved candidates, I would withdraw.”
But Tehran University’s Dr. Seyed Mohammad Marandi, a de facto spokesperson for the regime, insisted that it is displaying a “very large degree of democracy” despite all the controversies over the bans.
Khamenei states that some candidates who were not qualified to run were unfairly dealt with:https://www.tasnimnews.com/fa/news/1400/03/14/2515180
There are rumours that the Guardians council may reinstate Larijani.
Just to be clear, as the Times published 12 years ago, there was no evidence of manipulation in the 2009 presidential election in Iran:
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/no-evidence-of-fraud-hgw7730jbkb
Varharan (Reza),
Just to be clear — this is not a factual report or analysis in The Times. It’s some person parroting the line of the Iranian regime in a letter to The Times.
S.
So, let’s just get your conspiracy theory right. Is it?
1. Khamenei okayed the approval of Mousavi by the Guardians Council in 2009.
2. On the night of the election, he was worried that Ahmadinejad might not win, so he “intervened” by asking the Interior Ministry to change the vote.
3. The Interior Ministry complied, and they altered the vote tallies that they had received from the polling stations.
Or is it?
1. Khamenei okayed Mousavi to run.
2. His plan all along was to get people to vote and get electoral officials to disregard the vote count and come up with a false tally.
3. The Interior Ministry essentially invented the 46,000 ballot box results.
At least Reza Khatami has made it clear he believes 8 million fake ballots were physically to the ballot boxes for Ahmadinejad: https://iranintl.com/en/iran/khatami-8-million-votes-were-added-ballot-boxes-2009
He did not present any evidence in support of his claims.
If that is so, Ahmadinejad would still have won with 16.5 million out of 32 million votes cast, 51.5% and not 63%.
Varharan (Reza),
I’ve never set out a conspiracy theory about the disputed 2009 Presidential election in Iran, so your effort here is irrelevant.
S.
I might have misunderstood your meaning about Khamenei’s “intervention”. If you meant by this that he defended the authenticity of the vote count, then that is definitely true. The point is that there is no evidence Khamenei interfered/intervened to ensure the victory of Ahmadinejad.