Ayatollah Jannati to head Experts Assembly

Iran's Assembly of Experts has elected Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati to head the body tasked with appointing the “Leader of the Islamic Revolution” and overseeing his work.

Ayatollah Jannati was chosen for the post for two years on Tuesday after securing re-election for the assembly in a February vote.

In a message to its opening, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei said the new assembly has a duty to “carefully and comprehensively guard the Islamic and revolutionary identity of the ruling establishment and direct intertwined apparatuses of the establishment toward lofty and sublime goals.”

The Leader further asked the assembly to pay attention to the "personal and political piety of the leader."

Ayatollah Jannati was voted chairman of the 88-member assembly with 51 votes against two other contenders - former Judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Shahroudi and another prominent cleric Ayatollah Ehrahim Amini.

Ayatollah Amini, who is also the prayer leader of the holy city of Qom, garnered 21 votes and Ayatollah Shahroudi 13 votes.

Former president Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who had chaired the assembly until 2011, did not run for the post.

The former president of the Assembly of Experts Ayatollah Muhammad Yazdi and prominent cleric Ayatollah Muhammad Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi did not get enough votes.

However, despite the advances for Reformists in February’s election, Principlists remain in control of the assembly of which President Hassan Rouhani is also a member.

Ayatollah Jannati is also the leader of the Guardian Council, an oversight body which examines the qualifications of candidates in elections.

After the vote, Ayatollah Jannati reiterated comments by the Leader that the assembly should remain "revolutionary."

"I hope to work in a way that leads to happiness of the almighty God, the Supreme Leader and the people," he said.

In 1989, the Assembly of Experts picked Ayatollah Khamenei to succeed the late founder of the Islamic Republic Imam Khomeini.

"Another important job that they (members of the assembly) have is they can also dismiss the leader if they find that he doesn’t have the qualifications that is required by Iran’s Constitution,” Foad Izadi, a professor at the University of Tehran, told Press TV.

Izadi said the Leader of the Islamic Republic is basically elected by the people through the Assembly of Experts. 

"So, the people vote for these candidates and the candidates determine who is going to be the leader,” he said.

"It is not very different from how the Electoral College votes in the United States, when they elect a president. In the United States, the president is not directly elected by the people,” he added. 

In Iran, the leader of the country is not directly elected by the people either but unlike the United States, the leader doesn’t have a set term.

"So, he is dismissed any time these people decide that he doesn’t fit the job,” Izadi added.

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