Ali Motahari: All 290 Parliament Members Should Not Be Disqualified

​​​​​Ali Motahari advised the Guardian Council not to “be more caring than a mother” and, referring to disqualifications, stated that all parliament members should not be vetted out. The Hope faction also announced the possibility of confirming the qualifications of some reform-oriented candidates.

Ali Motahari, the representative of Tehran in the Islamic Consultative Assembly, evaluated the spokesman of the Guardian Council’s remarks about disqualifying more representatives due to “financial and ethical violations” as a program to “strip the current representatives of their dignity.”

This representative, whose candidacy was rejected for the upcoming parliamentary elections, criticized the Guardian Council’s stance on “widespread non-confirmation of representatives,” considering the council’s methods and its spokesman’s repeated emphasis that disqualifications were mainly due to “financial and ethical violations” as “playing with people’s reputation.”

According to ISNA, Motahari spoke before the parliament’s agenda on today, the 8th of Bahman (January 28), criticizing the Guardian Council’s performance in post-election supervision and the raising of financial and ethical violations, asking the council not to be “so concerned” about the parliament, and if a person accepts the constitution and has not committed ethical or financial corruption, their qualification should be confirmed.

Motahari: “I Support Post-Election Supervision”

The Hope faction representative in parliament, emphasizing that he is “not opposed to the principle of post-election supervision,” said he criticizes the “manner” of implementing this supervision and believes this form of post-election supervision implementation has become problematic.

Abbas Kadkhodaei, the spokesman of the Guardian Council, had recently stated that relying on local investigations for confirming or rejecting qualifications is sufficient and there is no need for “court rulings.”

Motahari did not consider this method of reviewing qualifications correct and said that qualifications cannot be reviewed solely based on local investigations.

“Possibility of Confirming Some Reformists’ Qualifications”

Concurrently with Motahari’s criticisms of the Guardian Council, Hassan Rasouli, head of the Central Election Staff of the Supreme Council of the Reform Front, announced today negotiations with the council to “secure the rights” of disqualified reform-oriented candidates.

According to the public relations of the Supreme Council for the Policy-Making of the Reform Front, Rasouli, in the fourth session of the Central Council of the Election Staff of the Supreme Council for the Policy-Making of the Reform Front, stated that in order to help secure the rights of disqualified reform-oriented candidates, increase public participation in the eleventh parliamentary elections, and help create competitive election conditions, negotiations with the Guardian Council at “different levels” are being conducted seriously until the final legal deadline of our pre-final stage of expressing opinions.

Today, Mohammad Reza Aref, head of the Hope faction in parliament, also announced the “possibility of re-confirming the qualifications of some reform-oriented candidates.”

Aref said that at present, the reformists represent “the most important trend of this country and the system” and they intend to present a completely reform-oriented list in the upcoming elections.

Reason for Motahari’s Disqualification

Ali Motahari is himself one of the candidates whose qualification was rejected for the upcoming parliamentary elections. Three days ago (the 5th of Bahman 98) in a letter to the Guardian Council, he protested his disqualification and advised the council’s members not to “be more caring than a mother.” He added that he doubts there is anyone among the Guardian Council members who is “more caring” than himself for “the system, Islamic Revolution, and the leadership.”

In this letter, which ISNA published, Motahari referred to his face-to-face conversation with one of the legal experts of the Guardian Council and said that the reason for his disqualification was “failure to practically adhere to the Islamic Republic system” because of saying this sentence in a parliament speech: “If December 9th is intended to cause division, it is no longer a day of God but a day of Satan.”

Motahari, in a conversation with IRNA, Iran’s state news agency, said regarding this matter that he “objects” to his disqualification “but does not appeal.”

The Hope faction representative in parliament, also referring to the fact that “the door to expression and freedom of speech should not be closed,” said that in one period of the Islamic Republic, even communists could express their views.

He continued: “In general, expression and speech should be free, but they say you must say what we say.”

Motahari, emphasizing that “all 290 parliament members should not be vetted out,” added: “In the first parliament, even the Mujahedin or the Hypocrites and the Liberation Movement had representatives, but today we have reached these limitations.”

Motahari has so far written many letters on various topics to Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic. In these letters, he has always asked Khamenei to mediate in resolving disputes between appointed institutions and the legislative and executive branches.

Source: DW