IranWire Audience: Assembly Elected Yazdi to Isolate Rafsanjani

The majority of IranWire readers believe that Mohammad Yazdi was elected as chairman for the Assembly of Experts to marginalize and disempower Hashemi Rafsanjani.

Hardliner cleric Mohammad Yazdi was ushered in as the new chairman to the influential body on March 10. Yazdi defeated Rafsanjani, who had been widely anticipated to win, in the second round of the election, with 47 votes to 24.

Fifty percent of Persian-language IranWire readers polled said members elected Yazdi as a bid to weaken Hashemi Rafsanjani and prevent his intervention in the next election of the Supreme Leader. Technically speaking, the Assembly of Experts is responsible for electing and supervising the Leader. But, as prominent lawyer Mehrangiz Kar argues, the assembly plays a key role in perpetuating a “vicious circle” because the Supreme Leader appoints half of the assembly members, and the head of the judiciary – himself appointed by the Supreme Leader — appoints the rest.

Those who took part in IranWire’s English site agreed that the election was a cynical bid to strip Rafsanjani of power, with 75 percent expressing the view that Yazdi had been elected as a means of restricting Rafsanjani’s power. Only 2.8 percent of those polled believe the Assembly of Experts voted for Yazdi because they genuinely believed he was the best person for the role of chairman. Among English readers, not one person believed members voted for Yazdi because he was the most competent candidate.

Forty-one percent of IranWire’s Persian readers said they believed the Supreme Leader intervened and ordered members of the Assembly of Experts to select Yazdi. In other words, 91 percent of those polled believe that there is a connection between the defeat of Rafsanjani, the intervention of Ayatollah Khamenei and the election of the next Supreme Leader. Yazdi has a track record of supporting the Supreme Leader, and is also a regular critic of President Rouhani and his administration. On the English site, 8.3 percent said they believed the Supreme Leader intervened and ordered members of the Assembly of Experts to select Yazdi. So, on the English site, 100 percent of those polled believed the election demonstrated that Ayatollah Khamenei engineered Rafsanjani’s defeat — and that this election will have an impact on who the country’s next Supreme Leader will be.

In recent days, there have been fresh rumors about the deteriorating health of the Supreme Leader. Six percent of IranWire’s Persian audience said they believed the Supreme Leader is in poor health and the regime should choose the next leader. Among English readers polled, 16.7 percent agreed.

The latest poll demonstrates that IranWire readers have a good knowledge of Iran’s political landscape, and the role the Assembly of Experts plays. In their view, the election is a good gauge of the political atmosphere in Iran at the moment. Although Rafsanjani believes he will still command influence when it comes to selecting the next leader, IranWire readers know that Ayatollah Khamenei has shown the extent of his power once again.