TEHRAN - By late Friday, a total of 86 people signed up for candidacy of the Assembly of Experts, according to the Elections Headquarters Director Mohammad Hossein Moqimi.

The candidates did so by referring to the Interior Ministry in Tehran or provincial governorates.

The Assembly of Experts is a key body responsible for qualifying the country’s leader when a former leader dies or ceases to qualify.

The election will be held on February 2016 to send 86 ayatollahs to the assembly for eight years.

Noteworthy among the candidates was Seyyed Hassan Khomeini, grandson to late Imam Khomeini, who signed up on the same day.

Hassan Khomeini told reporters that he has entered the campaign as an “independent” candidate.

Hassan Khomeini said, “The concept of Velayat Faqih (the rule of supreme jurisprudence) is among issues which we should be committed to it and also reinforce its tenet until our last breath.”

SP/PA