News ID: 16

Date: 09 March 2021 - 16:26

Constitutional Council finds faults with election law amendment bill

Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for Iran’s Constitutional Council, announced that the council had found faults with a bill to change the country’s rules governing presidential elections, and rejected it.

“The bill was reviewed by the Constitutional Council during several sessions and members found a number of faults with it. The faults include data-x-items which were against the Constitution and we sent them back to the Majlis (parliament),” Kadkhodaei told IRIB News on Feb. 2.

He added that the bill runs contrary to Article 115 of the Constitution, which says the president must be elected from among the religious and political elite who meet the following qualifications: Iranian origin, Iranian nationality, administrative leadership, clear past record, honesty and piety, believing in the fundamentals of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the official religion of the country.

The Iranian parliament voted in favor of the Amendments to Presidential Election Law bill on Nov. 2. A total of 160 lawmakers, out of the 290-seat parliament, voted in favor of the bill, 72 voted against and eight abstained.

In order to become a law, the Constitutional Council should vet the bill for compliance with the Constitution and the Islamic Law.