Members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Australia, together with their counterparts from some 170 other countries, have elected the governing body of the Baha’i Faith.
Those elected are: Farzam Arbab, Kiser Barnes, Peter Khan, Hooper Dunbar, Firaydoun Javaheri, Paul Lample, Payman Mohajer, Shahriar Razavi, and Gustavo Correa.
The delegates attending the Tenth International Baha’i Convention cast their ballots on 29 April and the results were announced yesterday.
Among those elected was an Australian, Dr Peter Khan, who has served as a member of the Universal House of Justice since he was first elected in 1987.
Dr Khan, born in Australia, held professorial posts in electrical engineering at universities in the United States and Australia.
He served as an Auxiliary Board member, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Australia, and a Continental Counsellor before being appointed to the International Teaching Centre, which has its Seat in Haifa.
The Universal House of Justice, an institution called for by Baha’u’llah, the Founder of the Faith, was first elected in 1963. It has its seat at the Baha’i World Centre on Mt Carmel in Haifa, Israel.
The members of the Universal House of Justice serve five-year terms and may be re-elected for successive terms.
The Baha’i Faith, which has no clergy, is governed by democratically elected councils at the international, national and local levels.
Baha’i elections are distinctive for taking place without nominations or campaigning.
Instead of being influenced by outside pressures, voters are guided by the Faith’s teachings, which advise them to choose “those who can best combine the necessary qualities of unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognised ability and mature experience.”
Read a report from the Baha’i World News Service