Constitutional Council clarifies criteria for presidential candidates (full text)

In accordance with the Clause 5 of Article 10 of the ‘General Policies on Elections’ laid out by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, which have assigned the Constitutional Council to “define and declare the necessary criteria and conditions for the identification of the political and religious personalities and the qualities that determine the managerial characteristics and skillfulness of the presidential candidates”, and considering the Clause 9 of Article 110 and Article 115 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Constitutional Council ratified those definitions, criteria and conditions at a meeting on January 10, 2018, and amended those standards at a meeting on April 28, 2021.

The full text of the measure, which has been communicated to the Ministry of Interior on May 1, 2021, for implementation, is as follows:

The definition, criteria and necessary conditions for the identification of the political and religious personalities and the qualities that determine the managerial characteristics and skillfulness of the presidential candidates:

Clause 1 - The definitions of political and religious personalities and the qualities that determine the managerial characteristics and skillfulness of the presidential candidates include:

1. Religious personalities are the persons who have an adequate knowledge of Islam and Shia faith and whose religiosity and commitment to performance of religious rites and rituals in the personal and the social life is particularly prominent, in a way that they would be illustrious and famed for such characteristics among the public.
2. Religious personalities are the persons whose capability to analyze and perceive the political issues and phenomena in light of their deep understanding of the sociopolitical issues, including the internal and international issues, and of their presence in the political scenes is such that the expedience of the Islamic establishment and the pure revolutionary criteria are always applied to their performance, in a way that they would be illustrious and famed for such characteristics among the public.
3. A person with managerial characteristics enjoys the necessary innate and acquired competence in terms of knowledge, skills, character, individual attitudes, and experiences who is capable of recognizing and optimizing the use of human and material resources in the country in conformity with maximum productivity and in accordance with the establishment’s mission, objectives and major goals and the values prevailing in the society, and whose background testifies to success at macro-managerial levels.
4. A skillful person has the foresight and contemplation capability to deal with the affairs on the basis of rationality and correct knowledge in order to handle the affairs of the country, and also has the ability to settle the problems and find a way out of crisis in an appropriate manner.

Clause 2 - The necessary conditions and criteria for the identification of the political and religious personalities and the qualities that determine the managerial characteristics and skillfulness of the presidential candidates include:

1. Sufficient and evaluable background in the religious and political activities, including the written works, speeches, and expression of stances;
2. The experience of serving for at least a combined total of four years in the following posts; Serving in one or more posts would suffice when calculating the total years of experience:

2-1. The political posts mentioned in Clauses A, B, and C of Article 71 of the Administrative Services Management Act, ratified on October 29, 2007;

2-2. Deputies of heads of three branches of power;

2-3. Members of the Supreme National Security Council;

2-4. Members of the Expediency Discernment Council;

2-5. Director of the Islamic Seminaries Management Center of Iran;

2-6. Directors of the governmental organizations, institutions, and foundations, and the non-governmental public foundations at the national level;

2-7. High-ranking commanders of the Armed Forces with the rank of Major General and above;

2-8. President of the Islamic Azad University at the national level;

2-9. Provincial governors;

2-10. Mayors of cities with a population of over two million;

2-11. The personalities, officials and managers equivalent to the abovementioned posts at the discretion of the Constitutional Council;

3. The necessary health conditions and capability to assume the presidential responsibilities;
4. The minimum age of 40 and maximum age of 75 according to the solar calendar at the time of registration;
5. Holding at least a master’s degree or its equivalent certified by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology or the Ministry of Health and Medical Education or the Islamic Seminaries Management Center;
6. Presentation of the plans and executive guidelines within the framework of the competence and purview of the Executive branch of power on the basis of the upstream documents, including the Constitution and the establishment’s general policies;
7. Introduction of advisers to explicate the plans and managerial potential;
8. Non-conviction for social rights deprivation at the time of registration;
9. Certificate of clearance on no previous convictions;
10. Non-conviction for economic crimes such as fraud, bribery, embezzlement, collusion in governmental dealings, money laundering, disruption to the country’s economic system, and also non-conviction for acting against the Islamic Republic of Iran’s establishment;
11. Non-affiliation with the illegal groups and certificate of clearance on security crimes, such as involvement in the 2009 post-election sedition;
12. Non-affiliation with and non-involvement in strengthening the previous regime;

Provision (1) – The applicants intending to register for the presidential election are obligated to submit the supporting documents relating to the Clauses 2, 4, 5, 8, 9 and 10 of this Article to the Ministry of Interior at the time of registration. Registration in the electoral process does not mean that the applicant is competent, as the verification of competence of the applicants will be within the purview of the Constitutional Council.

Provision (2) – If the applicants have any objections to rejection of their registration request, they can submit their protest with written documented evidence to the Ministry of Interior and the Constitutional Council simultaneously. The Constitutional Council will consider the objections in due time and during the registration period and will inform the Ministry of Interior and the applicant of the results.

Provision (3) – In order to certify the requirements of the applicants registering for the presidential election, the Constitutional Council can get inquiries from the competent bodies or conduct investigations independently.