Combatant Clergy Association جامعه روحانیت مبارز | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General Secretary | Mostafa Pourmohammadi |
| Spokesperson | Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moghaddam |
| Founded | 6 November 1977 (48 years, 101 days)[1] |
| Headquarters | Tehran,Iran |
| Ideology | Islamic theocracy[2][3] Islamic nationalism[4]Iranian nationalism[5] Khomeinism[6] Governance of the Jurist Anti-Western sentiment Anti-Zionism[7] Anti-imperialism[2] |
| Political position | Right-wing[8] |
| Religion | Shia Islam |
| Parliament | 13 / 290 |
| Assembly of Experts | 6 / 88 |
| Expediency Discernment Council | 2 / 48 |
| Website | |
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TheCombatant Clergy Association (Persian:جامعه روحانیت مبارز,romanized: Jâme'e-ye Ruhâniat-e Mobârez) is a politically active group inIran, but not apolitical party in the traditional sense.
It has never been registered as a political party; however, it acts as a fragmentedcaucus and has actively operated in the electoral arena, competing for votes. Thus, it is considered anelite party and can be classified as a political party according to the minimalist definition by Angelo Panebianco. The traditional conservative clerical association was the majority party in the fourth and fifth parliaments after theIslamic revolution.[4]
The organization has great influence over non-elective institutions such as thejudicial system, theGuardian Council andRevolutionary Guard Corps.[8]
After the15 Khordad demonstration of 1963 failed in Iran, it was felt that a more coherent organization was needed for Iran's anti-Shah movement.[9] The association was founded in 1977 by a group of clerics with intentions to use Islamic culture and traditions to overthrowthe Shah. Although the exact founding members of the group are unsure, some of them were said to beAli Khamenei,Morteza Motahhari,Mohammad Beheshti,Mohammad Javad Bahonar,Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Fazlollah Mahallati andMohammad Mofatteh,[10] and its current members include founding member Ali Khamenei.[7]
The Combatant Clergy Association was one of the few republican groups active before theIran–Iraq War. A "free political atmosphere" was not provided in Iran due to the special conditions of wartime, and the Combatant Clergy Association was the only active political organisation after the dissolution of theIslamic Republican Party (All IRP clerics were members of CCA but not all CCA founders were members of IRP).[4] By the emergence of factional differences in government ofMir Hossein Mousavi, the organization was divided, andAssociation of Combatant Clerics was formed.[11]
CCA is suffering from unresolved contention between its elites.Hassan Rouhani, president of Iran since 2013, is a member of the faction although he has been inactive and not participated their regular sessions since the disputed 2009 presidential elections, a situation that applies toAli Akbar Nategh-Nouri andAkbar Hashemi Rafsanjani as well.[4][12] The association however backed Rafsanjani and Rouhani in2016 Assembly of Experts election and included both on its list,[13] despite backing Rouhani's rival,Ebrahim Raisi, for president in 2017.[14]
The association brought together anti-Shah clerics andbazaaris.[15] It also aimed to preserve therevolution and its achievements. Supporting theGuardianship of the Islamic Jurist and state organization are some of the group's goals. The association does not recognize itself as a political party and hence does not have any written strategy or policy. The association mostly announces its political viewpoints aroundelection time.[10]
Members of the association have had important positions in the different governments of Iran. By 2004, four out of eight presidents of the executive branch of the government had been selected from this association. Also, the president of the judicial branch of the government was one of the members of the association,Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, for two five-year periods, from 1989 to 1999.[10]
The association believes in making diplomatic relationships with all world countries except the United States andIsrael, and their criteria in this regard is avoiding both being dominated by other countries and domination over others. However, they believe that there can be relationships withFrance and theUnited Kingdom under defined conditions. The association believes that there are intrinsic differences between the value system of Iran and western societies.[16]
The fourth chapter of the Combatant Clergy Association's statute deals with the financial issues of the association.[16]
| Election year | Candidate | First round | Second round | Result | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Votes | % | Rank | Votes | % | Rank | |||
| 1981 | Ali Khamenei | 16,007,072 | 95.01% | 1st | N/a | Won | ||
| 1985 | 12,203,870 | 87.9% |  1st | N/a | Won | |||
| 1989 | Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani | 15,537,394 | 94.5% | 1st | N/a | Won | ||
| 1993 | 10,449,933 | 64.0% | 1st | N/a | Won | |||
| 1997 | Ali Akbar Nategh-Nouri | 7,242,859 | 24.91% |  2nd | N/a | Lost | ||
| 2001 | Did not participate | |||||||
| 2005 | Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani | 6,179,653 | 22.00% | 2nd | 10,046,701 | 36.76 | 2nd | Lost |
| 2009 | Tactical voting toMahmoud Ahmadinejad | 24,592,793 | 63.14% |  1st | N/a | Won | ||
| 2013 | Suppurting toAli Akbar Velayati | 2,268,753 | 6.18% | 5th | N/a | Lost | ||
| 2017 | Ebrahim Raisi | 15,835,794 | 39.43% | 2nd | N/a | Lost | ||
| 2021 | Ebrahim Raisi | 18,021,945 | 72.35% | 1nd | N/a | Won | ||
| 2024 | Mostafa Pourmohammadi | 206,397 | 0.88% | 4th | N/a | Lost | ||
| Election | Exclusive seats | ± | % | Rank | Alliance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1988 | 90 / 270 | | 33.33% | 2nd | Faction right |
| 1992 | 134 / 270 | 44 | 49.62% | 1st | Faction right |
| 1996 | 110 / 270 | 24 | 40.74% | 1st | FFLIL |
| 2000 | 54 / 290 | 56 | 18.62% | 2nd | FFLIL |
| 2004 | 196 / 290 | 142 | 67.58% | 1st | ABII |
| 2008 | 137 / 290 | 59 | 47.24% | 1st | UFP |
| 2012 | 133 / 290 | 4 | 45.86% | 1st | UFP |
| 2016 | 84 / 290 | 49 | 28.96% | 2nd | PGC |
| 2020 | 177 / 290 | 93 | 61.03% | 1st | CCIRF |
| 2024 | 13 / 290 | 164 | 4.48% | 4th | UCIRF |
| Election | Seats won | +/− | Alliance | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1982 | 65 / 86 (76%) | | Faction right | |
| 1990 | 73 / 86 (85%) | 8 | Faction right | |
| 1998 | 69 / 86 (80%) | 4 | Faction right | [17] |
| 2006 | 59 / 86 (69%) | 10 | Principlists | [18] |
| 2016 | 66 / 88 (75%) | 7 | Principlists | [19] |
| 2024 | 58 / 88 (66%) | 8 | Principlists |
| # | Name | Tenure | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fazlollah Mahallati | 1977–31 October 1981 | [20] |
| 2 | Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani | 1 November 1981 – 21 October 2014 | [20] |
| — | Mohammed Emami-Kashani(interim) | 1996 | [20] |
| 3 | Ali Movahedi-Kermani | 2 December 2014 – 30 May 2018 | [20] |
| 4 | Mostafa Pourmohammadi | 30 May 2018–present | [20] |
