News ID: 14

Date: 09 March 2021 - 15:41

Constitutional Council vows to protect people’s health in upcoming vote

The spokesman for Iran’s Constitutional Council made assurances that the watchdog body is doing all it can to protect people’s health in the upcoming presidential election amid the COVID-19 crisis.

“The coronavirus pandemic has raised alarms about the upcoming election and the Constitutional Council is making every effort to secure the health of both voters and the vote,” Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei said in remarks on Jan. 3.

He added, “We are in consultations with the Interior Ministry in order to increase the number of the ballot boxes, including the mobile ones”.

“We may need to even make some changes to our law [of election] in order to be able to hold the vote under health protection regulations and protocols and witness a high turnout,” Kadkhodaei said.

In late August 2020, the deputy interior minister in charge of elections, Jamal Orf, said with the Constitutional Council’s approval, June 18 was set for holding presidential, council and midterm parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the head of the Constitutional Council’s research center voiced the law watchdog body’s readiness to organize elections across the country electronically as soon as security issues in this regard are addressed and the infrastructure is ready for service.

Candidates hoping to run in the next elections are to apply in early April for approval. The final list is to be announced by the Constitutional Council in early June.