TEHRAN - On Thursday, President Hassan Rouhani called the February parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections a “divine test” to all in charge, noting that his administration is tasked to manage the elections properly.

Addressing a gathering of governors general, governors and officials in charge of holding elections, Rouhani said the administration will do “its utmost to put the Supreme Leader’s guidelines into practice” in the elections.
In his recent remarks Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged even those who do not approve of him and the system to vote in the elections. Also, in a speech on Wednesday Ayatollah Khamenei said only those who are loyal to the system should find a seat in the parliament.
Rouhani said, “During the elections, we have to show and prove impartiality, non-interference, the essence of constitution, security, competition, the Supreme Leader’s guidelines and full implementation of his orders as to hold the elections with full participation of all.”
“As Majlis is a house for people, not for a certain faction, the government also supports no specific faction, party or candidate,” Rouhani said, according to the president.ir.
Since the world has undergone changes “we should let the best candidates enter Majlis,” the president remarked.
“As the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution indicated and ordered all to act according to the essence of the constitution not the essence of a specific political taste, so I urgently asked the interior and intelligence ministers to diligently cooperate and consult with the electoral supervisory Guardian Council in this regard” Rouhani stated.
The president went on to say, “The Supreme Leader himself eyes on the constitution which gives right to small groups of Zoroastrian, Armenian, Assyrian and Jewish citizens to have rightly their own representative in Majlis, but why should we interpret the constitution differently and ignore a faction (reformist faction) in the country which even enjoys the support of more than 10 million people?”
Majlis which represents the nations is “not a house only for a certain faction”, he noted.
“The country is for all its residents and citizens, so we think only one faction has the right to vote and the rest do not have, then what is the use of holding such election?”, he asked.
“We need to create a competitive environment, not a disappointing one and persuade majority of the people to vote in the coming election, because Iran belongs to everyone and all groups and factions of the country, therefore all should be able to have their representatives in the house of people,” the president noted.

NA/P