What Does Raisi Want from the Chamber of Commerce

What does Raisi want from the Chamber of Commerce?

What does Raisi want from the Chamber of Commerce? According to Iran Gate, the recent controversies surrounding the elections of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce have escalated to the point where now the newspaper of Ebrahim Raisi’s government has accused Hossein Salahvarzi, the elected president of the Chamber of Commerce, of being a subversive. Meanwhile, the members of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce strongly defend their choice and consider government interference in the affairs of this non-profit institution illegitimate.

Hossein Salahvarzi, the new president of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, who recently succeeded in winning the absolute majority of members’ votes in the elections, is now facing serious obstacles to taking the presidency of the private sector parliament. The government and parliament have joined forces not only to remove Salahvarzi from this position but also to place their approved candidate in this role. But where did the problem start, and what is the reason for the government and parliament’s opposition to Salahvarzi’s presidency?

Disqualification in the Chamber of Commerce

The issue began when the government and the supporters of Ebrahim Raisi in the Chamber of Commerce tried to intervene in the elections of the board of directors of this institution and bring individuals like Yahya Al-Eshaq into the board. However, the government and even the parliament were not satisfied with this and attempted to take a bigger step to capture the presidency of the Chamber of Commerce for their political supporters.

This is despite the fact that the Chamber of Commerce is a non-governmental and non-profit institution, and the government does not have permission to interfere in its affairs. However, since 2018, a strange law has been passed that requires the qualifications of candidates for the presidency of the Iranian Chamber to be reviewed and approved by security agencies for participation in elections. Based on this law, the Ministry of Intelligence and the IRGC’s intelligence disqualified many candidates in the recent elections.

Among the most prominent figures whose qualifications were not approved was Hossein Salahvarzi. This is despite the fact that Salahvarzi has always been one of the managers active within the governing structure of the Islamic Republic and is well-known and reputable among economic activists.

Nevertheless, he was informed via a strange and brief text message that his qualification to participate in the Chamber of Commerce presidency elections was not approved. This happened while it was said that 25 other individuals participating in the board elections also faced widespread disqualifications.

Qualification approved at the last minute

With this situation, it was planned that the elections would be held with only three candidates, and Salahvarzi’s name was not among them. But on the morning of the election day, suddenly things changed, and the election officials announced that members could vote for Hossein Salahvarzi to take the presidency of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce. Thus, Salahvarzi was able to secure 265 out of 426 votes, gaining the absolute majority of members’ votes and being recognized as the new president of the Chamber of Commerce.

The government and revolutionary parliament are in cahoots

However, hours later, several members of parliament wrote a letter to Abbas Aliabadi, the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade in Raisi’s government, urging the government to intervene in this case. According to what is stated in the letter, the writers consider Salahvarzi unqualified and request the annulment of the elections from the Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade. Refer to the image below.

But immediately after the publication of this letter, several government officials also questioned the qualification of the new president of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce. Some also spoke of the necessity of quickly annulling the elections and considered Salahvarzi’s victory an act against national security.

What is the reason for the opposition?

According to reports received by Iran Gate, security agencies rejected Hossein Salahvarzi’s qualification due to his support for the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement. Salahvarzi, who had supported the protesters on social media during the peak days of the recent public protests in Iran against the discriminatory laws of the Islamic Republic, came under severe attack by state and pro-government media. Tasnim News Agency, in a harsh and unconventional report, accused Salahvarzi of supporting subversives and deemed him unqualified to sit on the presidency of the private sector parliament.

Salahvarzi is a subversive and rent-seeker

Tasnim, by publishing images of Salahvarzi’s tweets, depicted him as a supporter of what they called the ‘sedition of 2022’. Refer to the image below. In these tweets, Salahvarzi reacted to the killing of Mahsa Amini, Nika Shakarami, and the massacre of people in Izeh. In another image, Azadi Square in Tehran is seen in the side mirror of a car, with the phrase ‘Objects in the mirror are closer than they appear’ visible.

The Iran newspaper, in another report with extensive accusations against Salahvarzi, introduced him as a rent-seeker and economic corrupt. According to Iran newspaper’s claim, the new president of the Iranian Chamber of Commerce played an important role in suppressing national production and acquired many properties at low prices from the government or private individuals. However, the newspaper of Ebrahim Raisi’s government has not yet published any documents to prove its strange claims, but Salahvarzi considers all of them invalid.

Mr. Raisi, you forgot your promises

The unfulfilled promises of Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi are nothing new. From building 4 million houses in four years to controlling inflation and reducing the influence of corrupt individuals on the country’s economy, none have been achieved. But another promise of the thirteenth government leader, which remains less remembered, is the promise to reduce the government’s role in various sectors of the country’s economy.

Interestingly, Ebrahim Raisi’s first electoral meeting in the 2020 campaign was held in the Chamber of Commerce. In this meeting, he strongly defended the free-market economy and condemned government interference in market affairs. In the presence of the Chamber of Commerce members, Raisi promised that in the future government, government intervention would be minimized, and the private sector would be given more freedom than ever before.

But time passed, and in late June 2023, exactly two years after those days, Ebrahim Raisi taught the Chamber of Commerce a lesson that no one would forget that consolidating power not only cannot lead to economic liberalization but also places the government and authority in an unaccountable position, so much so that it does not provide the slightest answer to anyone for any interference in various affairs, including politics, economy, and culture.