TEHRAN: Candidates running for seats in the Iran assembly in charge of appointing the country’s supreme leader began election campaigns on Wednesday, state media reported.

The Assembly of Experts is tasked with electing, supervising and, if necessary, dismissing the supreme leader, who has the final say in all matters of state in Iran.

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, now 84, has held the post since 1989.

“The elections campaign for the Assembly of Experts began today and will last for 15 days,” the official IRNA news agency said.

A total of 500 hopefuls submitted applications for membership in the 88-member assembly, although jurists in charge of vetting the candidates only approved 144.

The elections for the assembly, which are held every eight years, will take place on March 1 along with the parliamentary elections.

The elections will be the first since September 2022 nationwide protests triggered by the death in police custody of Iranian-Kurd Mahsa Amini.

Amini, 22, had earlier been arrested for allegedly violating the Islamic republic’s strict dress code for women.

In January, Iran’s former president Hassan Rouhani said after 24 years of membership he had been barred from seeking re-election to the Assembly of Experts.

The assembly is currently headed by the 96-year-old ultra-conservative Ahmad Jannati.

Published in Dawn, February 15th, 2024