Iran’s Supreme Leader issued a statement two days after the elections, commending the high level of public participation and thanking the people for heeding his public call to vote.
On Sunday evening, two days after people went to the polls to elect representatives to the Assembly of Experts and Parliament, Ayatollah Khamenei called on all representatives to maintain “resistance against foreign interference” and “a revolutionary response to all treacherous plans against the country as their top priority”.
He recommended “simple living, honesty, persistent presence in the public posts, putting the national interest above personal or partisan interests, and the maintenance of revolutionary thought and action” as the best tools for the representatives.
Aytollah Khamenei also described the current situation of the country as “highly sensitive” and stressed that while “national progress” should be the main goal, “apparent progress without independence and national pride is not acceptable.” He went on to add: “Progress does not mean being dissolved in the digestive system of world arrogance, and maintaining national pride and identity cannot be achieved by all-encompassing and endogenous progress.”
Reports indicate that 61 percent of eligible voters participated in the elections on February 26.
The results indicate that many conservative candidates who were seen as more in line with the Iranian Supreme Leader were voted out of the two elected government bodies.
