ELECTION TO SCHOOL BOARDS,
TOWN or MUNICIPAL
COUNCILS:
Your specific question about whether or not Bahá'ís in North America "are permitted to run for election to school boards, town or municipal councils hospital boards and for local enforcement officer positions" should be answered by the National Assemblies concerned.
-[letter 10 March 1987 on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice to an
individual believer, Bahá'í Canada Supplement,
ed. 3, July 1988, p. 4]
RE E-MAIL E-69 OF 11 SEPTEMBER ELECTION TO MUNICIPAL COUNCIL PERMISSIBLE PROVIDED NATIONAL ASSEMBLY IS SATISFIED POST IS NON-POLITICAL, DOES NOT INVOLVE PARTISAN POLITICS, AND INDIVIDUAL CONCERNED DOES NOT CAMPAIGN FOR OFFICE. IF HE IS NOMINATED, ACCEPTS NOMINATION, AND OTHERS WISH CAMPAIGN FOR HIM HE MAY ATTEND ALL-CANDIDATES MEETINGS, BUT SHOULD NOT CAMPAIGN PROMOTE HIS ELECTION. OTHER DETAILS LEFT YOUR DISCRETION. CURRENT NEEDS FAITH MAY BE BROUGHT TO INDIVIDUAL'S ATTENTION, BUT HE SHOULD BE LEFT FREE CHOOSE HIS COURSE OF ACTION.
-[30 Sept. 1985 on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice,
Bahá'í Canada Supplement, ed. 3, July 1988, p.
4]
We are asked to transmit the reply of the Universal House of Justice to your further letter of 4 February on the matter of Bahá'ís and elective civil office.
By stating that the National Assembly should be satisfied that the "post is non-political" and "does not involve partisan politics" the House of Justice intended to draw your attention to the fact that considerations beyond the role of political parties in government are involved. A study of the statement by the Guardian on pp. 64-66 of THE WORLD ORDER OF BAHÁ'U'LLÁH, with which you are familiar, will make this clear. "In its email message of 30 September 1985 the House of Justice did not intend to imply that membership on every municipal council was a political post. Its purpose was to emphasize that the National Spiritual Assembly should carefully weigh all the implications involved in such membership.
In answer to your second question: By "OTHERS" in its cable, the House of Justice meant non-Bahá'ís.
-[letter 6 May 1986 on behalf of the Universal House of
Justice,
Bahá'í Canada Supplement, ed. 3, July 1988, p.
4]
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