TEHERAN - Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei told Friday prayer leaders on Monday that elections are important both internally and externally.

Internally the holding of elections gives the people a feeling of independence, identity, and influence and externally, elections are a source of decency and credibility for the country.
The Leader emphasized the importance of massive turnout in elections. “The more the people’s participation will be, the more the country’s credibility and strength will be, and that is why we have always laid emphasis on people’s massive participation in election and likewise; this time we insist on the issue as the country is dependent on people’s emotions, requests, and votes.”
Censuring those making vote rigging claims, Ayatollah Khamenei reminded that some ruin the great gift of elections by making vote rigging claims automatically and out of habit as election times approach. The Leader went on to say that “of course, there may be some violations, however, systematic violations which can change the result of elections is absolutely impossible.”
Then, he elaborated on different dimensions of the concept of “people’s right”, saying that when it comes to elections, people’s right is the same as “candidate’s right.”
“Among instances of observing people’s rights in elections is that if a candidate is qualified, we do not disqualify him and pave the way for him, and vice versa; if someone lacks legal qualification, be it in the Assembly of Experts elections or parliamentary elections, we do not let him enter the scene through carelessness and connivance as inattention to the two points will be antithetical to people’s right.”
As a second dimension to people’s right, Ayatollah Khamenei held that “protecting people’ vote is another aspect of people’s right.” The Leader underscored that all those people involved in all executive stages of elections, vote counting, and final announcement of the results should do their best to protect people’s votes and leniency of any sort is an act of betrayal.
The Leader further noted that the United States wants Iran straying from the objectives of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and thus drawing closer to the U.S.

“The Americans, like us, seek transformation; but we want a transformation that would reduce the distance between the country and society [on the one side] and the goals of Islam and [the Islamic] Revolution [on the other]; and they (the Americans) are after distancing the society from the Revolution’s goals and drawing Iran closer to their own objectives – the exact opposite of the transformation that Iran has in mind,” the Leader said.
“To that end, the Americans have their eyes on the elections,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, adding, “However, the great and vigilant Iranian nation, whether in elections or in other issues, will act contrary to the objectives of the enemies.”
Iran will hold parliamentary elections on February 26. On the same day, the Iranian electorate will also participate in the fifth election for the Assembly of Experts, a body that elects Leader.

Members of the Assembly are elected every eight years. This will be the first time the two polls are held simultaneously.

Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has organized more than 30 votes at the national level.

SP/PA