Iranian People to Defuse Enemy Plots in Upcoming Elections: Cleric
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A senior cleric stressed on Friday that the plots hatched by such enemies as Britain and the US for the parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections due to be held next Friday, will be foiled by people’s massive participation in the polls.
In the past, enemies of the Islamic Revolution used to encourage people to boycott the ballot boxes and not to cast their votes, Tehran's Provisional Friday Prayers Leader Ayatollah Kazem Seddiqi said in an address to a large group of worshippers here in the capital.
After getting disappointed with such plots, however, they (enemies) are now inviting all Iranian people to go to the polls and vote for those who they (the enemies) want, he added.
The Iranian nation consider Britain and the US as their enemies and will show their support for their religious causes through their votes in February 26 elections, Ayatollah Seddiqi noted.
“People will not vote for those Britain has asked them to,” the senior cleric predicted, deploring a recent move by British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) to encourage Iranian people not to vote for certain Iranian candidates in the upcoming Assembly of Experts elections.
The comments came a couple of days after the Leader of the Islamic Revolution warned that the enemies are conspiring to undermine Iran’s upcoming elections, calling on the Iranian nation to remain vigilant against such schemes ahead of the Assembly of Experts and parliamentary polls due to be held next Friday.
Since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the aliens have been hatching plots to prevent elections from being held in Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei said in a Wednesday address to a group of Iranian people here in Tehran.
Disappointed with such plots, they have concentrated in recent years on casting doubts on the elections, the Leader added.
“One of the goals the hegemonic front tries to achieve by casting doubts on the elections (in Iran) is to deprive the world’s Muslim nations of the outstanding, exquisite, and attractive phenomenon of religious democracy,” Ayatollah Khamenei went on to say.
The Assembly of Experts and parliamentary elections will be held simultaneously next Friday.
There are currently 290 seats in the Iranian parliament, known as Majlis, elected by direct vote of people in nationwide election for four years.
The Assembly of Experts is also a high-ranking body that elects and oversees the activities of the leader of the Islamic Revolution.
Members of the assembly are directly elected to office by people for an eight-year term. It holds biannual meetings to appoint a new chairman.
