High voter turnout in the two simultaneous Feb. 26 elections of Majlis and Experts Assembly would help increase the power of the system and boost national security, the chairman of Principlist Coalition Council said.
Speaking in an electoral meeting at Imam Sadeq (PBUH) University in Tehran on Tuesday, Ayatollah Mohammad Ali Movahedi Kermani added that people should be careful about their votes, because any member of the incoming Majlis and Assembly of Experts would have a share in deciding the country's fate, IRNA reported.
Kermani, who is also secretary-general of the Combatant Clergy Association, explained that if people's vote lead to the selection of the "fittest", the health of the system will be guaranteed for four years, but if people do not participate in elections or are careless about their choice, they will be responsible for the consequences.
The country needs a "sound, fearless and courageous" parliament that is aware of enemies' plots and stands against them", he said.
On the list of Principlist candidates for the parliamentary votes for Tehran's constituency that was announced on February 7, the chairman said principlists have tried to include some candidates in the list who really care about people's demands.
Some of prominent figures on the list are lawmakers Gholamali Haddad-Adel, Fatemeh Alia, Mehrdad Bazrpash, Ahmad Tavakkoli and Alireza Zakani, as well as Majlis Deputy Speaker Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabifard, former commerce minister Yahya Ale Es’haq, former Tehran mayor Mohammad Nabi Habibi and former oil minister Masoud Mirkazemi.
Totally, 15 members of the list are former high-ranking officials or ministers, while there are six women and four clerics. Principlists say 10 economists are included in their list, a sign of their focus on economy in election campaigns.
Also speaking in the meeting, Haddad-Adel urged people to vote for each one of the candidates included in the list, saying that doing otherwise would be equal to voting for the rival list of reformist candidates.
There are 290 seats in the Majlis, distributed between 207 electoral districts. With 30 seats, Tehran has the largest constituency.
Over 6,200 candidates deemed eligible to run in parliamentary votes by the election vetting body of the Guardians Council have one week from Thursday to launch their campaigns and about 55 million Iranians with over 18 years of age are eligible to cast their votes.
