Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – July 14, 1983

I went to the Majlis early in the morning. Until nine in the morning, I read the reports and supervised the preliminary work of the Assembly of Experts. At nine, the session of the [Assembly] of Experts [for Leadership] began. The Quran and the Imam's message, and Mr. Mahdavi-Kani's [head of the Central Supervisory Board for the Assembly of Experts elections] speech, followed by the seating of the provisional presiding board, the oath-taking, and the election of the permanent presiding board. Mr. Meshkini was elected chairman, I was vice chairman, and Messrs. [Mohammad] Momen and [Hassan] Taheri Khorramabadi were elected secretaries. The [Society of] Seminary Teachers [of Qom] nominated Mr. [Ahmad] Azari [Qomi] for the chairmanship and Mr. [Mohammad-Mahdi] Rabbani [Amlashi] for the vice chairmanship, but they did not receive enough votes. Messrs. [Abolqasem] Khazali and [Yusuf] Sanei also received very few votes.  

We announced a session for the afternoon; the people from Qom objected and said it should be held in Qom. The presiding board held a meeting and made decisions to deal with this problem. We made the session informal and discussed the matter. To avoid disagreement, it was decided that the first session would be held on Saturday in the city of Qom; although the majority did not agree, their insistence might have caused a problem. A few people had also stayed away in protest; such as Mr. [Yusuf] Sanei and Mr. [Jalal al-Din] Taheri Isfahani. Then, in my office, the [Assembly of Experts] presiding board held a meeting; we arranged the program for the first session of the [Assembly of Experts in the city of] Qom. I worked at the Majlis for a while at night.