A Review of the Guardian Council's Supervision of the Elections of the Experts

According to Article 99 of the Constitution, the Guardian Council is responsible to monitor the elections of the Assembly of Experts. Regarding the Guardian Council's supervision, some believe that Article 99 has only specified the monitoring institute and the Guardian Council is not responsible for identifying the candidate's competence. Some hold that the famous professors of seminary who teach at highest levels are the ones to be referred to as an authority for identifying candidate's competence. Others believe that the Guardian Council's supervision is a vicious circle. Still others dont accept the conditions of Ijtihad. On inquiry, the present paper has reached the following Article 99 is absolute and covers a broad area than authority, supervision, and competence identification. The idea of presentation of testimony by three famous seminary professors who teach at highest levels as a warrant for taking part in the elections has to do with the time before the revision of the Constitution. There are no conditions for carrying out the elections and during the occultation period, the prerequisite of Ijtihad is a distinct characteristic of the Islamic leader and only those who have reached the station of Ijtihad can recognize this prerequisite.