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Lists of Candidates Released for Tehran City Council Vote

Lists of Candidates Released for Tehran City Council Vote
Lists of Candidates Released for Tehran City Council Vote

The two major political blocs, namely reformists and principlists, have published their 21-member lists of candidates for the upcoming Tehran City Council elections.

The reformist list, released by the Reformist Policymaking Council on Monday, includes Mohsen Hashemi, the son of the late Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and former chairman of Tehran Metro, former culture minister, Ahmad Masjed-Jamei, former deputy interior minister, Mahmoud Mirlohi, Secretary-General of Neda Party Majid Farahani and former lawmakers Ebrahim Amini, Ma'rouf Samadi and Shahrbanoo Amini, IRNA reported.

The list of principlists, announced by the incumbent chairman of Tehran City Council, Mehdi Chamran, on Wednesday, includes  himself, former lawmaker Parviz Sorouri, Tehran's fire department spokesman, Jalal Maleki, former chairman of Persepolis Football Club, Habib Kashani, former police chief, Morteza Talaei, and former world wrestling champion, Alireza Dabir.

The current Tehran council comprises 31 members, but according to 2016 Majlis enactment, the incoming council will have only 21 seats.

Iranian city councils are in charge of electing the mayor, supervising the municipality and approving its budget.

Unlike other Iranian elections supervised by the Guardians Council, the city council polls are overseen by a special parliamentary board, comprising three members of the Majlis Councils and Internal Affairs Commission and two from Majlis Article 90 Commission.

The board has qualified over 2,700 hopefuls for the Tehran council, out of about 3,000 applicants.

Would-be councilors may continue their campaigns until 24 hours before the voting begins.

The poll is scheduled for May 19, concurrent with the presidential and midterm parliamentary elections.

Voting machines will replace ballot boxes in one-sixth of the polling stations for the council votes, the total number of which is 66,000, covering 150 midsized cities home to one-third of eligible voters.

Overall, there are 39,575 councilor seats in 1,245 cities, 1,057 counties and 2,589 villages.

 

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