Ayatollah Mahmoud Amjad, an Iranian member of the clergy and would-be candidate for the Assembly of Experts, says only three of the six clergy members on the Guardian Council reviewing the eligibility of candidates should make decisions in this regard, because the other three are themselves candidates in the elections.
The Shargh daily reports that Ayatollah Amjad, who has been disqualified by the Guardian Council, says Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati and Ayatollah Mohammadreza Modaresi Yazdi should not be deciding the eligibility criteria of assembly candidates because they are Tehran candidates in the same elections.
Ayatollah Amjad quotes Article 10 of the Executive Regulations for Assembly of Experts elections, which bars clerics who are running for election in a riding from taking on regulatory and decision-making roles in that district.
He stresses that his disqualification, therefore, should only be approved by Ayatollah Mohammad Hashemi Shahroudi, Ayatollah Mohammad Momen and Ayatollah Mehdi Shabzendehdar.
The Guardian Council has disqualified hundreds of candidates from running in the Assembly of Experts elections, but there has been no talk of attributing those disqualifications to only three of the Guardian Council clergy members.
The Assembly of Experts has 88 members, and of the 801 initial candidates, only 166 have been approved.
The three clerics whom Ayatollah Amjad is seeking to bar from the decision-making role are the ultra-conservative members of the council.
