Rafsanjani ‘to run for seat in Assembly of Experts’

Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has announced his intention to stand as a candidate in the country’s forthcoming Assembly of Experts elections.

According to his official website, Rafsanjani said in an interview with an Iranian media outlet that he intends to run for a seat in the Assembly of Expert.

Speaking of the upcoming Parliament (Majlis) and the Assembly of Experts elections, Rafsanjani said both polls are “very important and among our most significant elections,” adding that “anyone who has an Islamic and national commitment should prepare himself and participate in the elections.”

Rafsanjani served two terms as Iran’s president from 1989 to 1997. He was also the Parliament speaker for nine years following the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979. He presided over the Assembly of Experts since the beginning of the body’s fourth term in 2007 until 2011.

The next elections to pick representatives for the Majlis and the Assembly of Experts will take place simultaneously on February 26, 2016.

The high-ranking body of the Assembly of Experts elects and oversees the activities of the leader of the Islamic Revolution, and is in a position of authority to either appoint or dismiss the leader.

Members of the assembly are directly elected to office by people for an eight-year term. The 86-member body holds meetings twice a year to review major national issues and every other year to appoint a new chairman.

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi was appointed the new chairman of the Assembly in March this year after the passing away of its former chairman, Ayatollah Mohammad-Reza Mahdavi Kani.