Article 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Iran is a State Party, requires that:
Every citizen shall have the right and the opportunity, without any of the distinctions mentioned in Article 23 and without unreasonable restrictions:
a. To take part in the conduct of public affairs, directly or through freely chosen representatives;
b. To vote and to be elected at genuine periodic elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret ballot, guaranteeing the free expression of the will of the electors;
c. To have access, on general terms of equality, to public service in his country.
The actual practice of the Council of Guardians in vetting candidates is a clear obstacle to the right to take part in the conduct of public affairs and the rights to freely choose one's representatives.4 The council is required to assess subjective criteria, such as a candidate's piety and wisdom. It is also required to select only prominent political figures as candidates.5 Thus, while the constitution provides for the president to be directly elected by the people, the Council of Guardians determines who are the eligible candidates.
The council is not required to give reasons for excluding candidates, and candidates denied permission to run have no right to appeal the decision. The council's logic is sometimes hard to follow. For example, Said Rajai'e Khorasani, a former leading member of parliament whose candidacy for last year's parliamentary elections was approved, was excluded from the presidential ballot without explanation.
In addition to the council's powers to veto candidates on the basis of loosely defined, uncontestable criteria, the constitution establishes discriminatory criteria at variance with international law regarding who is eligible to be president of the Islamic Republic. For example, by requiring that the president be a Shi'a Muslim, the constitution excludes approximately 20 percent of the population. Moreover, the constitution requires in Article 115 that the president be a man, contrary to international human rights standards prohibiting discrimination on the basis of gender. Despite this constitutional prohibition, nine women put themselves forward as candidates. This may be explained by the Council of Guardians' past practice of overriding constitutional provisions when it deemed that the interests of Islam so required. One of the women excluded explained her candidacy by saying, "Though women cannot become president in an Islamic regime, there is no rule forbidding them to enter the race."6 She explained furtherthat her decision has "at least the merit to force the legislators at the Council of the Guardian [sic] to take a firm decision on the possibility of women becoming president and to announce it officially."7
The power of the Council of Guardians over elections has been a controversial issue in Iran for some years. Last year, for example, the council annulled the parliamentary election results in numerous districts without providing any reasons for its actions. The Majles (parliament) passed a resolution in April 1997 permitting representatives of presidential candidates to observe the council's supervision of the elections, with a view to bringing some transparency to a closed process. The Council of Guardians, however, using its powers to veto legislation that it finds to be incompatible with Islam, ruled that the parliament's resolution was contrary to Articles 75 and 99 of the constitution. Article 75 deals with the obligation of parliament to include ways and means of implementation in any legislation that reduces public revenues or increases expenditures. The financial implications, if any, of monitoring the council are unclear. Article 99 of the constitution establishes the council's supervisory role over elections. The parliament had not proposed to challenge this role, merely to observe it. Nevertheless, the council rejected the resolution without reservation or explanation.8
The parliament's concern over the role of the council in the elections is fueled by the fact that the council's members have made no attempt to hide their endorsement of one of the presidential candidates, Hojatoleslam Nateq-Nouri. All six clerical members of the council are also members of the JRM, which backs his candidacy. Moreover, members of the council have made clear their preference for Nateq-Nouri in widely reported public statements. For example, Ayatollah Jannati, a leading social conservative, addressed Friday Prayers at Tehran University, a nationally televised event, and declared "a presidential candidate should not be a liberal," a clear reference to Hojatoleslam Khatami.9 Hojatoleslam Mohammad Emami Kashani, secretary of the Council of Guardians and chairman of the presidential election supervisory board, declared on May 1, "Our duty is to support and vote for Hojatoleslam Nateq-Nouri in the seventh presidential elections."10
While there are concerns that the council may unfairly favor one candidate from within the religious leadership over another, candidates from outside leadership circles face total exclusion from the process. In a joint statement issued April 28, 1997, three prominent non-clerical candidates, Ebrahim Yazdi, leader of the banned but tolerated Freedom Movement, Ezatollah Sahabi, a minister in the 1979 government of Mehdi Bazargan, and former Oil Minister Akbar Moinifard, accused the government of preventing non-clerical candidates from airing their views:
In the more than fifty days since the announcement of our candidacy, we have faced many obstacles and deprivations...the doors of all public places have been closed to us, and even private establishments do not dare give us access because they fear for their security.11
These three candidates, along with other opposition figures, were not permitted to run.
Shi'a Muslim clerical leaders whose views differ from those of the ruling circle are also excluded from participation in the political process. Grand Ayatollah Hossein Ali Montazeri, who was dismissed from his post asdeputy leader of the Islamic Republic in 1989 shortly before Ayatollah Khomeini's death, has been forced to live under virtual house arrest in Qom, the center of Shi'a religious learning in central Iran. Since then he has emerged as a rallying point for disaffected clerical opinion. According to unconfirmed reports from Ayatollah Montazeri's office, more than 1,200 Shi'a clerics are currently in detention because of their nonviolent criticism of the government. These include numerous followers of Montazeri as well as followers of other senior clerical figures such as Grand Ayatollah Mohammad Shirazi. In January, Ayatollah Montazeri reportedly wrote to the leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Khamene'i, urging him to "provide more freedom to the people, particularly during the next presidential elections."12 The authorities have not heeded Ayatollah Montazeri's advice, and the repression of dissident clerical voices continues.
3 Article 2 requires States Parties to ensure for all individuals subject to their jurisdiction the rights in the ICCPR "without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status."
4 For more on the Council of Guardians, see Human Rights Watch/Middle East, "Power Versus Choice, Human Rights and Parliamentary Election in the Islamic Republic of Iran," A Human Rights Watch Short Report, vol. 8, no. 1 (E), March 1996.
5 Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, art. 115.
6 Azam Taleghani in an interview with Radio Pezhavak, the Persian service of Swedish Radio, May 4, 1997.
8 Abrar daily newspaper, special election supplement, May 1, 1997.
9 Voice of Islamic Republic of Iran, February 28, 1997, as reported by BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, March 3, 1997.
10 Akhbar daily newspaper, May 1, 1997.
11 Associated Press, April 28, 1997.
12 Statements attributed to Grand Ayatollah Montazeri's office received by Human Rights Watch, April 1997. On file at Human Rights Watch.