Elections Held Across Seven Countries in Three-Stage Voting
On the eve of the 62nd anniversary of the founding of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the organization’s members elected Mahnaz Maimanat as their new Secretary General.
The election was conducted simultaneously across France, Germany, the United Kingdom, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Ashraf-3 in Albania through three consecutive rounds. In the first two phases, PMOI members cast secret ballots.
In the final phase on September 6, 2026, members present at the organization’s general assembly voted by a show of hands.
In the first voting round, Mahnaz Maimanat received 56% of the votes, while Badri Pourtabbakh and Narges Azdanlou received 24% and 20%, respectively.
Ms. Maimanat secured 85% of the vote in the second round and was chosen as Secretary General for a two-year term with near-unanimous support in the third round.
Following her election, Ms. Maimanat appointed Badri Pourtabbakh and Narges Azdanlou as her Senior Deputies.
In a message following the election, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), praised the services of outgoing Secretary General Zahra Merrikhi.
She described Mahnaz Maimanat as a woman of resilient, dynamic spirit with a profound commitment to the freedom of the Iranian people and her homeland, noting that her election reflects the PMOI’s unwavering resolve to overthrow the ruling religious fascism.
Following the election of the new Secretary General, Zohreh Akhyani, President of the PMOI Central Council, introduced former Secretary General Zahra Merrikhi as the new President of the Central Council. In accordance with internal regulations, the outgoing Secretary General assumes the presidency of the Central Council.
Biography of Mahnaz Maimanat, New Secretary General of the PMOI
Born in Tehran in 1959, Mahnaz Maimanat became acquainted with the PMOI/MEK during her student years and took part in the anti-monarchic revolution. Following the 1979 revolution, she officially joined the organization. She continued her studies at Tehran University’s Faculty of Agriculture until the closure of universities during Khomeini’s so-called “Cultural Revolution.”
Ms. Maimanat served as a member of the Executive Committee beginning in 1989, joined the Leadership Council in 1993, became a member of the Central Council in 2014, and served as Co-Secretary General of the organization starting in 2021.
Her mother, Akhtar Mowlavi, was killed by the Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1988. Two of Ms. Maimanat’s brothers were also executed by the regime. Her 19-year-old brother, Massoud Maimanat, was executed by firing squad in Evin Prison in August 1983 after seven months of torture. Mahmoud, a 28-year-old architecture student, was arrested in 1982 and hanged at Gohardasht Prison during the 1988 massacre of political prisoners. Another brother was sentenced to four years of imprisonment in exile solely for maintaining contact with his sister.
Her father, Mr. Abdollah Maimanat, was a prominent judge who resigned his position after Khomeini came to power. Throughout the 1980s, he searched from prison to prison for his children and spent the remainder of his life seeking their burial sites.
