Speaking at the meeting, the Leader strongly supported the legal procedure followed by the Constitutional Council. The Leader stated that the people would participate in the elections in large numbers due to the presence of competent, powerful managers for the sake of resolving the people’s problems. He advised the presidential candidates to avoid imitating the electoral debates in the US and Europe and to be committed to Islamic ethics.
Thanking all those who registered for the elections as candidates, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution said, “The honorable Constitutional Council did what it deemed necessary according to its responsibility. Of course, not passing the vetting process does not mean that a person is incompetent.
Ayatollah Khamenei also thanked those candidates who respected the decisions of the honorable Guardian Council despite the fact that their competence was not confirmed.
Inviting the people to participate in the elections in large numbers, Imam Khamenei said, “Dear people of Iran, the elections will take one day, but its effects will last for several years. You should participate in the elections. You should know that elections belong to you. You should ask God to guide you to that which is correct and true and to the most suitable candidate… .”
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution stressed the fact that those who encourage the people to ignore the ballot boxes are not concerned for the people. In explaining the enemies’ policy against the elections in Iran, he stated, “Obviously, the enemies are opposed to our elections. Since the first day and for many years now, they have been opposed to them. Up until today, they have always focused on discouraging the people from participating in the elections by saying that the elections may be rigged and that there may be cheating. They propagandize against the people’s participation in elections. Later, when the people do participate and there is an enthusiastic turnout for the elections, they say that the elections have obviously been ‘engineered’ and that it was clear beforehand who would be the winner. This scenario has always existed. After a person is announced as the winner of the elections – either the one whom they guessed or someone else – they say, ‘What difference does it make? The president has no authority.’ This has been the enemy’s policy in their propaganda over the course of all these years, and they are pursuing the same policy today.”
At the end of his statements, Imam Khamenei offered words of advice to presidential candidates, asking them to observe Islamic ethics and to avoid doing something that would cause Iran’s elections to resemble American elections. He stated, “My first advice to presidential candidates is that you should not turn the elections into a battle for power. You should not look at typical American elections and the elections in some European countries as they have been a source of disgrace for them. The field of elections is a place for competing to serve the people.”
Iran’s presidential election campaign officially started on Tuesday after the Interior Ministry released names of the candidates found qualified by the Constitutional Council to run for president.
The Council handed over the final list of the candidates to the Ministry late on Monday. It took 10 days for the Council’s jurists to examine the qualifications of the hopefuls. Each hopeful had to secure at least seven out of the 12 votes to get the vetting body’s approval for running in the election.
Only seven individuals have been approved by the vetting body. The confirmed candidates will have until June 17 to compete.
According to official figures, 592 hopefuls had registered to join the forthcoming presidential race, pending approval by the Constitutional Council — which supervises Iran’s elections and is in charge of vetting hopefuls.
The Council, however, said only 40 out of the 592 hopefuls had submitted all the required documents to the panel through the Interior Ministry’s election Headquarters.
Slated for June 18, the 13th presidential election in Iran will be held simultaneously with council and midterm parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections.