TEHRAN, July. 28 (MNA) � The former Guardian Council spokesman, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, has said that Hassan Rohani and Mohammad Reza Aref were approved to run for the June presidential election through a mediation effort by the council chairman Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the pro-reform Sharq newspaper reported on Saturday.
Kadkhodaei told the Sharq newspaper that Rohani first won only 5 votes in the 12-member council and then it was increased to six through mediation by Ayatollah Jannati.

He added Aref also won only five votes in the council but �Mr. Jannati said that he knew him (Aref) for a long time. He is a religious person (and) if you are willing (you can) vote for him.�

The former GC spokesman also said the council sent a message to Expediency Council Chairman Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani asking to withdraw his presidential candidacy because he had failed to win enough votes on the council but Rafsanjani refused to do so.

He said the message was sent to Rafsanjani through Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani and Rohani, who himself was a candidate.

According to the Iranian Constitution, the Guardian Council, a 12-member body consisting of six law experts and six religious jurists, is tasked with vetting candidates and supervising elections.

Also, any bill passed by the Majlis must be reviewed and approved by the Guardian Council to become law. It can nullify a bill if it is deemed to not be in line with Islamic law or the Iranian Constitution.

In the June 14 election Rohani, a centrist cleric, won an outright majority, garnering more than 50 percent of the vote among the six candidates.

Aref withdrew presidential bid a few days before the election.

By Mehr News Agency

 

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