The next few weeks will shape not only the legitimacy of February’s elections in the Islamic Republic but also Ayatollah Khamenei’s legacy. That legacy will be shaped more by his departure than what he has done as leader,says scholar Farideh Farhi
Farideh Farhi pictures Ayatollah Ali Khamenei contemplating his legacy as an election day of 26 February approaches for Iranians to elect the 88 clerics who will sit in the Experts Assembly, majles-e khobregan, or the body whose sole genuine function is to elect Iran’s rahbar (leader).
The poll is significant,Farhi, lecturer at the University of Hawaii, or told Tehran Bureau in an interview,not just because the assembly may during its eight-year term choose a successor to 76-year-old Khamenei. She believes the election, and the way it is conducted, and will shape the whole future of the post of the supreme leader and his office,beyt-e rahbari, which are the lynchpins of Iran’s political structure.
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Source: theguardian.com