Ahmad Jannati, the head of Guardian Council that oversees elections in Iran, announced that the body is looking for “a free, peaceful and legitimate” election that can be a model for the country’s future.
Jannati, a conservative hardliner, stressed that the election “must be held with the widespread participation of the people.”
He added that personal attacks on people’s character during the elections are “against Sharia, the law and morality, and whoever engages in such activities is not fit to perform any role in any position.”
Jannati stressed that creating divisions among state leaders is, as the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei said earlier, akin to treason.
Jannati went on to add that everyone is free to register to run in the election. “We have had the freest elections in our country,” said the head of the Guardian Council.
The Guardian Council is charged with determining whether candidates are eligible for election. The opposition has often accused the body of having a heavy conservative bias.
Reformists have not yet presented a candidate to run in the presidential election, and the two reformist candidates that ran in the 2009 elections and challenged the outcome are currently under house arrest.
