Tehran:Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, in a message issued on Sunday, thanked the aware and determined Iranian nation, who responded positively to the Islamic establishment’s call for participation in the elections and demonstrated religious democracy to the world in their radiant face through firm determination and unforgettable fervor and vibrancy. Ayatollah Khamenei then called on Iranian officials to provide people with honest services in order to reciprocate people’s move accordingly. Reiterating all-out and endogenous progress as the fundamental objective of the nation, Ayatollah Khamenei said: “The future Majlis (parliament) will shoulder heavy responsibilities and it is hoped [to act in such a way] that everyone would see its sense of accountability before God and people.”

The full text of Ayatollah Khamenei’s message is as follows:

In the Name of God, the Most Compassionate, the Most Merciful

Praise be to Cognizant and Almighty God who bestowed victory upon the vigilant and determined nation of Iran in another big test. They managed to participate in nationwide elections with firm determination and memorable fervor and vibrancy for the 36th time since the outset of the [1979] Islamic Revolution, and decided the future of the country within a legal framework [by] choosing their representatives to from two powerful and important assemblies, and demonstrated once again the religious democracy to the world people in their radiant and powerful countenance.

Islamic Iran is proud of its own nation and holds its head high on the strength of regulations that have created such enviable opportunities for standing tall and reinvigorating the national stamina.

I consider it my duty to offer gratitude for this general positive response to the Islamic establishment’s call [for participation in elections] and pray for divine reward and guidance for people, who created such a busy and glorious Friday.

I remind the country’s officials, both those elected to the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Assembly of Experts, and those who hold executive posts in other branches [of the government] as well as officials in [various] organizations and organs [of the need] to show suitable appreciation [for people’s move] by providing honest services to the people and country and Islamic establishment. They must consider simple life, clean-living, continuous presence in their position of responsibility, preference of national interests over personal and factional demands, courageous resistance in the face of foreign interference, revolutionary reaction to plots hatched by ill-wishers and traitors, observing a jihadi conduct in thought and action, and in one word: working for God and trying to serve people created by God as their permanent plan during their term in office and do not shirk from it at any price.

The current highly sensitive juncture calls for the sensitivity and vigilance and firm determination of everyone, particularly you officials. The country’s progress is the basic objective. Outward progress without independence and national dignity is not acceptable. Progress does not mean being dissolved in the digestive system of the global arrogance, and safeguarding national dignity and identity is not achievable in the absence of overarching and endogenous progress. The future Majlis will shoulder heavy responsibilities with regard to these important issues and it is hoped that everybody would witness its sense of accountability before God and people.

I deem it necessary to sincerely thank all people involved in organizing these glorious elections, [including] executive and supervisory officials, security staff, the national medium organization, as well as other organs and effective people.
I ask Almighty God to bestow success upon everyone.

Seyyed Ali Khamenei
Esfand 9, 1394
February 28, 2016