Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 17
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Iran has started the nominee registration process for the upcoming election of the Assembly of Experts to be held in late February.
Iranians are getting ready to elect both law makers for parliament and clerics for the Assembly of Experts, through ballot boxes on the same day on 26 February, Mehr news agency reported Dec. 17.
The registration process for the Assembly of Experts will continue until Dec.23 and the registration process for those who wish to be appointed as nominees for the Parliamentary election will start on Dec. 19.
Those who wish to be appointed as nominees for the upcoming elections have to be vetted by the Iranian watchdog body of the Guardian Council.
The Assembly of Experts is an influential body in charge of supervising the supreme leader and organizations under his direct control as well as electing a successor for the current Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. The members of the assembly who must be clerics are elected by direct public vote for eight-year terms.
The upcoming election for the Assembly of Experts is of high importance due to the immense power of the clerical body in Iran. Clerics from various political groups and fractions particularly conservatives, reformists and moderates compete to win seats in the assembly.
Iranian former President and the current chairman of the Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who was once upon a time known as a conservative figure but currently supports moderate President Hassan Rouhani, failed to assume the chairmanship of the Assembly of Experts in an internal election when the former chairman of the assembly Ayatollah Mahdavi kani passed away in 2014.
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