The elected government, led by the reformists, is in charge of the organisation of the election. However, the Council of Guardians rejected last month about 2500 on the 8000 candidates to the legislative election. The reason alleged to justify the rejection of those candidates was that they had violated the Islamic principles and the Constitution of Iran.
The majority of the rejected candidates are reformists, including 87 members of the current Parliament. This is nearly a third of the current members of the Parliament.
Several reformist ministers, governors who are supposed to organise the election in their province as well as 125 Members of the Parliament resigned last week in order to protest again the exclusion of so many reformist candidates, while the main reformist party threatened to boycott the election. The Supreme leader then ordered to the Council of Guardians to re-examine the rejected candidates. About 400 of them should consequently be able to participate in the election.
However, the Supreme leader said yesterday that any resignation by officials is contrary to the law and to Islamic principles, and entails serious punishment because it disrupts the electoral process. “This appears as a threat against those who criticise the way elections are currently prepared”, said Karim Lahidji, Vice-President of the FIDH and President of the Iranian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
“The Iranian parliament has been held for the last four years by reformists. It is the only elected body in Iran, and it has been doing relentless efforts to improve the legal framework in order to ensure a better protection for human rights. However, the Council of Guardians, an unelected body controlled by the religious right, has systematically vetoed those reforms”, added Mr Lahidji.
After his visit in Iran last November, the UN Special rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression said that “the current practice of the Council of Gardians of screening, mainly on the basis of subjective criteria, the candidates to the election, is an impediment to the effective exercise of the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs and to the free expression of voters”. It consequently violates art. 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified by Iran.
“The international community, and in particular the European Union, cannot remain silent about the electoral hold-up in Iran : it marks a further degradation of the human rights situation in the country. The current context can only result in an unfair election, and the suppression of any dissenting voice in the Parliament, which was the last official body enjoying a certain degree of independence”, concluded Sidiki Kaba, President of the FIDH.