Iran’s interior minister has written to the head of the country’s three branches of government to say the Guardian Council’s cancellation of the votes obtained by parliamentary candidate Minoo Khaleghi’s is “an error” that needs to be examined by Parliament.
Seda va Sima reported on Tuesday April 26 that Mahmoud Rahmani Fazli said it is not within the council’s jurisdiction to cancel an individual’s votes after the ballots have been approved. He added: “The credentials of this individual must be issued, and then Parliament will decide on it.”
Khaleghi won the third-highest number of votes in Isfahan, which sends five candidates to Parliament. However, after the vote count was approved, the Guardian Council announced that it was canceling Khaleghi’s votes. Some unofficial reports indicate that she is being penalized for “not complying with Islamic codes of behaviour in her travels abroad”.
Meanwhile, MP Ali Motahari has said that the Ministry of the Interior must issue Khaelghi her credentials to take her seat in the next Parliament or else Parliament will impeach the interior minister.
Khaleghi is a reformist candidate, and conservative factions in Isfahan appear to be behind the push to keep her out of Parliament.
