By bne Tehran bureau
There is speculations in the Iranian media that the country’s clerical body intends to push for the inclusion of Ali Larijani in the upcoming presidential race by government decree, after he was disqualified by the Guardian Council on June 9, Dideban-e Iran reported.
Iran is holding snap elections on June 28 after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash on May 19.
Around 80 canditates registered for the polls, but some have since withdrawn.
The Guardian Council, which is in charge of assessing their qualification, eventually has released a list of six candidates, having disqualified certain key figures such as Ali Larijani and former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
It has been announced that candidates are not allowed to lodge a protest about their disqualification due to the urgent nature of the upcoming elections.
Nevertheless, rumour has it that certain religious and fundamentalist figures in the Iranian city of Qom, home to the country’s clerical community, are trying to reinstate Larijani to the list by government decree.
A government decree in Iran is most often issued by Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
He has already employed this procedure to return disqualified candidates.
In 2005, Mohsen Mehralizadeh and Mustafa Moein were reinstated to the final list of candidates following Khamanei’s letter to the Guardian Council.
The two competed with heavyweights Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but lost.
Some observers believe it is highly likely that the Supreme Leader will issue such an order again for Larijani, citing his letter in 2021.
Larijani was disqualified in the 2021 election, to much surprise at the time.
Ayatollah Khamenei later wrote a letter, saying “some candidates” had been treated unfairly and should be compensated.
Although he made no mention of Larijani, many interpreted that the letter was referring to him.
Larijani was a parliament speaker, head of the state television and radio and member of the Expediency Council. He was part of the Islamic Republic’s inner circle, but appears to be losing his position.
Ahmadinejad has not reacted to his disqualification yet, but Abbas Akhoundi, a representative of the reformist bloc, has staged his protest in a letter to the Guardian Council’s secretary.
Akhoundi’s rejection has left only one candidate from the political group in the final list to compete with five fundamentalists.
In his letter, Akhoundi said he considers the disqualification as oppression and persecution against himself, as well as the political factions and personalities who nominated him as their desired candidate.
It also limits the choices of free Iranian voters, he added, and is calling for a chance to defend himself.
