Khamenei criticized in it the decision of governors of Iranian provinces to resign if the rights of parliamentarians, whom the commission of the Guardian Council refused to register as candidates for the next parliamentary elections, would not be observed. According to the Islamic Republic's existing legislation, this Council checks all the potential candidates for deputies of parliament as for their correspondence to the Islamic standards and laws.
The sit-down strike of parliamentarians, who have not left the building of the parliament for two days, continues. In this way the deputies protest against the decision of the election commission of the Guardian Council of Iran to ban their participation in the regular parliamentary elections of the seventh convocation, scheduled for February 20, this year.
More than 3,000 candidates failed to pass the exam on the correspondence to the future deputy powers, in particular, parliamentarians-reformers, including vice-speaker of the parliament, chairman of the Islamic Iran Participation Front and Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of the incumbent president.