People's Experts () is an

electoral list An electoral list is a grouping of candidates for election, usually found in proportional or mixed electoral systems, but also in some plurality electoral systems. An electoral list can be registered by a political party (a party list) or can c ...

published by former

Iranian President The president of the Islamic Republic of Iran () is the head of government of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the second highest-ranking official, after the supreme leader. The first election was held in 1980 and was won by Abulhassan Banisa ...

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani Akbar Hashemi Bahramani Rafsanjani (25 August 19348 January 2017) was an Iranian cleric, politician and writer who served as the fourth president of Iran from 1989 to 1997. One of the founding fathers of the Government of Iran, Islamic Republic, ...

to compete against the conservative

Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom The Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom () is an Iranian group founded in 1961/3 by the leading Muslim clerics of Qom. Established by the students of Ayatollah Khomeini after his exile to Iraq, it was formed in order to organize political ac ...

in the

2016 Iranian Assembly of Experts election The fifth Iranian Assembly of Experts election were held in Iran on 26 February 2016 to elect the members of the Assembly of Experts. All 88 members of the Assembly of Experts, who are known as mujtahids, are directly elected. The elections had ...

. The list shares 8 out of 16 candidates with the

Combatant Clergy Association The Combatant Clergy Association () is a politically active group in Iran, but not a political party in the traditional sense. It has never been registered as a political party; however, it acts as a fragmented caucus and has actively operated ...

's list (including Rafsanjani and

Ali Movahedi-Kermani Ayatollah Mohammad-Ali Movahedi Kermani (; born 1931) is Tehran's Friday Prayer Ephemeral Imam and the former secretary-general of Combatant Clergy Association. He is also a member of the Assembly of Experts. He is a conservative and principlis ...

) in the most important constituency, Tehran Province. However, Rafsanjani was removed from the

's list, which has three of his harshest critics as its primary leaders: Mohammad Yazdi, Mohammad-Taqi Mesbah-Yazdi and

Ahmad Jannati Ahmad Jannati (Persian: احمد جنتی; born 23 February 1927) is an Iranian conservative politician. Jannati is known for his anti-LGBT rhetoric and opposition to secularism. He is also a founding member of the Haghani school of thought. ...

. According to analysts, the purpose of the list was to send a signal that Rafsanjani is still linked to the

's "

moderate Moderate is an ideological category which entails centrist views on a liberal-conservative spectrum. It may also designate a rejection of radical or extreme views, especially in regard to politics and religion. Political position Canad ...

faction," and his People's Experts list is a " disapproval voting" to the unfavourable Yazdi, Mesbah and Jannati.

Overlapping lists

Three days after the list was published, another list led by

Hassan Rouhani Hassan Rouhani (; born Hassan Fereydoun, 12 November 1948) is an Iranian peoples, Iranian politician who served as the seventh president of Iran from 2013 to 2021. He is also a sharia lawyer ("Wakil"), academic, former diplomat and Islamic cl ...

, called the "Friends of Moderation," () was published for Tehran. It shared 15 candidates with People's Experts, with Nasrollah Shahabadi replacing Mohammad-Ali Amin. The list was limited to Tehran and did not endorse candidates nationwide. Another similar list made by Pervasive Coalition of Reformists, also known as "The List of Hope," endorsed candidates overlapping with the People's Experts list nationwide.

References

Electoral lists for Assembly of Experts election, 2016 Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani {{Iran-party-stub