TEHRAN – Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati was elected on Tuesday as chairman of the new Assembly of Experts, securing 51 votes.

Ayatollah Ebrahim Amini and Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi also ran for the post, garnering 21 and 13 votes, respectively.
The 88-member body changes chairman every two years. 
Also, Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani, a Friday prayer leader of Tehran, was elected as the first deputy chief of the assembly and Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi as the second.
Ayatollah Hashemi Shahroudi was the country’s point man on Judiciary from 1999 to 2009.  
Assembly of Experts is constitutionally tasked with supervising and electing leader of the Islamic Revolution.
The new members of the assembly were elected on February 26, simultaneously with parliamentary elections.

‘Assembly should abide by the rule of supreme jurisprudence’

After securing a landslide victory for the chairmanship of the assembly, Jannati said the members of the assembly should abide by the rule of the supreme jurisprudence (Velayat-e Faqih) in order to fulfill their duties properly.

“The people will be revolutionary if the Assembly of Experts members and seminary schools are revolutionary,” he told the 88-member assembly.

The Islamic system cannot carry out its mission without supreme jurisprudence, noted Jannati who is also the chairman of the oversight Guardian Council.

In an interview with the IRIB, he also highlighted the importance of national unity, saying the Assembly of Experts should maintain unity.

Jannati said that the assembly’ duties revolve around the axis of the supreme jurisprudence.

Following the election of assembly’s new chief and two vice chairmen, messages form senior officials, including President Rouhani and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani poured in. 

“The Assembly of Experts has the duty to elect the Leader as stipulated by the Constitution and introduce him to the nation,” the president was quoted as saying, wishing longevity for the incumbent Supreme Leader Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei. 

Also, Ayatollah Rafsanjani said that electing the Assembly of Experts’ presiding board was done in a “peaceful atmosphere” and without any argument.

NA/PA