TEHRAN - Massive turnout in elections and voting for the fittest are the top two priorities in the upcoming polls in Iran, Assembly of Experts chairman Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati underscored in comments on Tuesday.

"In the next year's elections (which fall on the second Iranian month) emphasis should be laid on full participation of the people and election of the most qualified," the nonagenarian cleric was quoted as saying at a meeting of the Assembly of Experts, an oversight body responsible for supervising and electing Supreme Leader.

Iran will hold presidential as well as city and council elections on May 19, 2017, one month earlier than usual to avoid a coincidence with the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan which starts late in May. 

"The people should feel responsible and cast vote in the elections," the Jannati added. 

Late February, President Hassan Rouhani said massive turnout in the next elections is consequential for the fate and grandeur of Iran in the international arena, inviting the Iranian nation to stage a "competitive and impressive" show.

Insecure regional situation also adds more sensitivity to this year's voting, which is held in a region fraught with violence and feud.

Syria has been at war with numerous terrorist organizations for six years now, Iraq has been fighting ISIS since 2014, Saudi Arabia continues to pound Yemen, and Turkey has been insecure to levels unseen in decades.

Rouhani, who won in a landslide majority of 18.5 million in 2013 in a field of six candidates, is expected to stand as a viable candidate for a second term.

In the international arena, he championed a nuclear deal with six world powers and has been resuming stalled political ties with European countries.

However, questions remain if the administration has managed to renovate a sluggish domestic economy, hit by soaring inflation and raving unemployment bequeathed to him by the previous administrations.

Ever since, Rouhani has failed to rectify fully economic mismanagement under President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad from 2005 to 2013 which have left the country in limbo. 

Inflation skyrocketed beyond 40 percent as Ahmadinejad’s second term neared its end.

Ahmadinejad also dissolved Management and Planning Organization in an effort to implement his own economic agenda, later on revived by President Rouhani.

In the international arena, Ahmadinejad showed a blatant disregard for resolutions against Iran in the United Nations Security Council, branding them "scraps of paper"

Also, the economy posted a 7.4-percent growth in the first half of the current year (March-September), a record high rate, itself resulting from the nuclear deal. 

AK/PA