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Iran's Larijani Rebuffed over Election Bar
[ENGLISH.AAWSAT] Iran's ex-parliament speaker Ali Larijani on Saturday demanded an explanation of why he was barred from running in next week's presidential poll but was promptly rebuffed by the election watchdog.The moderate conservative was disqualified by the powerful Guardian Council in a surprise move that leaves judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, an ultraconservative, the clear favorite in the June 18 election. Larijani called on Twitter on the Guardian Council to "officially and publicly disclose all the reasons" for his disqualification as reports on him and his family had been "proven to be false". The council's front man in response said the law does not mandate the body to explain its reasoning in public. The vetting process is carried out using "adequate and trustable documents", Abbas Ali Kadkhodaee said in a tweet reported by local agencies. "The presidential election law has not specified anything regarding protesting disqualifications and public disclosure of their reasons," he said. The conservative-dominated, unelected council has approved seven candidates, five of them ultraconservatives, to run in the election from a field of about 600 hopefuls. In addition to Larijani, who serves as advisor to supreme leader Ali Khamenei  ...the very aged actual dictator of Iran, successor to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini..., it also barred first vice-president Eshaq Jahangiri and firebrand ... firebrandsare noted more for audio volume and the quantity of spittle generated than for any actual logic in their arguments... former president Mahmoud Short RoundAhmadinejad. The disqualifications have unleashed a flood of criticism, including from a member of the 12-man council. Sadegh Amoli Larijani, a former judiciary chief and brother to the ex-speaker, said "security bodies" were influencing the council's decisions through "false reports". President Hassan Rouhani ...Iran's moderatepresident, which he is, relative to his predecessor, which doesn't mean he's anything but a puppet of the nearest holy man... , who is constitutionally barred from running for a third consecutive term, said last month he had sent a letter to Khamenei asking him to intervene and ensure greater "competition" in the election. The supreme leader in a May 27 speech urged voters to ignore boycott calls but turned a deaf ear to criticism of the vetting process. A week later, however, he said some candidates had been treated "unjustly" as "they and their families were accused of false things", without giving names. The Guardian Council said "false reports" had not influenced its decisions. Related: Ali Larijani: 2021-05-16 Two Main Contenders Sign up for Iran's Presidential Election Ali Larijani: 2020-04-03 Iran’s Speaker Reportedly Diagnosed with Coronavirus Ali Larijani: 2020-03-17 Iranian senior cleric dies from coronavirus as president says infections peak has passed Posted by: Fred 2021-06-13 |
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