Mass disqualifications from city council elections signal no political opening despite war pressures and rising public discontent
Iran's ruling establishment has moved to bar reformist politicians from participating in the country's seventh municipal council elections, intensifying political pressure on opposition figures at a moment when the Islamic Republic faces its gravest confrontation with the United States in years over its nuclear programme.
According to Iran's reformist-leaning Etemad newspaper, the Guardian Council's supervisory boards have disqualified a sweeping number of candidates — not only from the reformist camp but also from moderate and critical conservative factions — ahead of the upcoming local elections. The scale of the purge has prompted comparisons with the vetting mechanisms long used to exclude candidates from parliamentary and presidential contests.
Ismail Gerami Moghadam, a senior member of the National Trust Party who was himself disqualified, told Etemad that the mass rejections demonstrated that "the door keeps turning on the same hinge" — meaning the governing apparatus has made no meaningful reforms in how it manages political participation, even in the wake of recent social upheavals and the 12-day military confrontation that rattled the country earlier this year.
"All political activists and parties rallied behind the country and defended the system's positions during the military attack," Gerami Moghadam said, adding that this display of national solidarity had been met not with political goodwill but with further exclusion. "These disqualifications have dashed that hope," he said.
Mohammad Sadegh Javadi Hessar, another disqualified reformist and member of the same party, was equally blunt. He told Etemad that the outcome was predictable given that the current parliament controls the qualification review process. "The executive boards confirmed a mixed slate of candidates, but when the matter reached the supervisory boards, members loyal to the current parliament drew their swords and began purging," he said.
The disqualifications carry particular significance because Iran's city councils — which oversee urban services, transport, housing, and local planning — have historically been viewed as a lower-stakes arena where a broader range of political figures could compete. Unlike parliamentary elections, which are subject to direct Guardian Council vetting, council elections were meant to be supervised by local executive and oversight boards. In practice, Etemad reports, the result has been virtually identical: critics and independent voices systematically removed.
Political analysts cited in the newspaper warned that the narrowing of competition at even this local level sends a powerful signal to Iranian society — that dissent or even mild critical distance from official positions will not be tolerated anywhere in the formal political system. Javadi Hessar argued that hardline factions believe council elections feed directly into parliamentary outcomes in major cities, making control over them a strategic priority.
The crackdown comes against a backdrop of severe domestic strain. Public participation in elections has been declining sharply in recent years; a trend analysts say reflects growing disillusionment with the political process. Gerami Moghadam warned that the new wave of disqualifications — combined with grief from January's unrest and the anxieties of an ongoing military standoff — would deepen popular despair and suppress turnout further.
Reports had initially circulated that Iran's Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) might intervene to moderate the disqualification process, but a source close to the SNSC's secretary told Etemad this was not the case. Mansour Haghighatpour confirmed the council had no intention of getting involved, noting it was preoccupied with more pressing national security matters. He suggested that the Interior Ministry's own security council could instead play a facilitative role in handling candidate appeals.
Meanwhile, the deputy interior minister announced that candidates rejected at the provincial supervisory level could still lodge appeals with the central supervisory board — a move that may offer limited relief, but which Etemad notes appears to contradict the amended election law passed in March 2025, which designated provincial boards as the final authority.
Both Gerami Moghadam and Javadi Hessar said they had not yet decided whether to file formal appeals against their own disqualifications, with the latter saying he would defer to his party's collective decision. "When it comes to the law, I bow my head," Javadi Hessar said, "but when it is a matter of taste and preference, I fundamentally object to seeking review."