A view of Iran Majlis[/caption]TEHRAN, July. 15 (MNA) The Iranian parliament elected three people to six-year terms on the Guardian Council during a session on Sunday.
Mohsen Esmaeili, Sam Savadkouhi, and Nejatollah Ebrahimian were the three legal experts elected to the Guardian Council on Saturday. Two other legal experts were rejected. All of them were introduced by the Judiciary.
Abbas Kadkhodaei, who had served on the Guardian Council for two consecutive terms, failed to win the necessary number of votes.
Of the 260 votes cast, Esmaeili won 237 votes, Savadkouhi 147, and Ebrahimian 130.
According to the Iranian Constitution, the Guardian Council, a 12-member body consisting of six law experts and six religious jurists, is tasked with vetting candidates and supervising elections.
Also any bill passed by the Majlis must be reviewed and approved by the Guardian Council to become law. It can nullify a law based on two accounts: being against Islamic laws or being against the constitution.
Constitutionally, the six law experts are elected by the Majlis and the six religious jurists are appointed by the Supreme Leader.
Guardian Council is not a political institution: Esmaeili
Esmaeili, who was reelected, said the Guardian Council is a legal institution and not a political body.
Esmaeili made the remarks during his defense of his record in the parliament before the lawmakers voted for the new members of the Guardian Council.
Esmaeili has a Ph.D. in private law from Tarbiat Modares University and is currently a seminary student. He has been a member of the Guardian Council for 12 years.
He asked the MPs to make a precise judgment about his performance in the Guardian Council over the years.
All my votes in the council are based on beliefs and academic standards and my views and political tendencies have never had any effect on my votes, he told the parliamentarians.
He went on to say that the Guardian Council should act in such a way that people will deem its rulings to be fair, insightful, and wise.
The Guardian Council should also act in such a way that people will feel calm in society such that even if a person does not agree with the rulings or views of the council, he should feel confident that the rulings were made based on the law and sharia, he added.
By Mehr News Agency
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