TEHRAN (Mehr News Agency) – Chairman of Guardian Council (GC) Ayatollah Mohammad Jannati said here on Friday that spreading lies, deception and factional bickering would discourage public participation in national elections.

“Any lie, deception and political bickering will undermine people’s participation in the polls. One sign of this deception is spending large sums of money for election campaigns,” Jannati told worshipers at the second sermon of Tehran Friday Prayers. “Therefore, election candidates must refrain from spending huge amounts of money for their campaign.”

He further recalled the recent remarks by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei in which he highlighted the need for the officials to be steadfast in the path of the Revolution and show no fear of the enemy.

“The enemy must not make us retreat. The more we retreat, the closer the enemy approaches to us, and we must make the enemy believe that it has no ability to control the political, economic and cultural affairs of the country,” the GC head said.

Jannati also recalled Ayatollah Khamenei’s call on the officials to refrain from following Western policies in dealing with Iran’s domestic affairs.

“The leader rejected the mentality that advocates unconditional imitation of Western policies,“ he said stressing that Iran should consider the differences between its own indigenous cultural and social conditions with the Western countries. Elsewhere in his remarks, Jannati said there is no restriction on legitimate liberties in Iran, but added that the liberties must be controlled “just like other instinctive issues.”

“We should pursue reasonable liberties, and whoever deprive the people from reasonable liberties is a traitor,” he said.