AN INSULTED PRESIDENT KHATAMI TO SWEAR IN TODAY, AT LAST
TEHRAN 8 Aug. (IPS) A humiliated but defiant Majles (parliament) of Tuesday surrendered to the will of the lamed and badly diminished leader by electing two new jurists to the Guardians Council (GC) with only 68 and 62 votes against 162 abstentions, thus paving the way for the President’s oath taking scheduled for today, Wednesday.
The reformist-dominated Majles was faced with possible dissolution after Ayatollah Ali Khamenehe'i confirmed late Monday night an earlier decision by the Assembly for Discerning State’s Interests, or DA suggesting a change in the Majles’s internal regulations that stipulates jurists proposed by the Judiciary as GC’s jurists should be elected with absolute majority, no matter how many sessions or vote casts.
From a mere consulting institution formed eleven years ago to provide the leader with advise on different matters as well as arbitrating differences between the GC and the Majles, the 32-members DA appointed by the leader, under the chairmanship of former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani has emerged a rival for both the reformist-controlled Parliament and government
Lawmakers, including some conservatives, had rejected last week all but one of the seven jurists presented by the Judiciary Chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi-Shahroudi, on the ground that not only the candidates did not fit for the job, but also belonged to one specific political current, meaning the conservatives who already control the powerful GC.
Arguing that it could not attend the searing in ceremonies of President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday unless fully completed, the GC triggered an unprecedented row between the Legislative and the Judiciary.
In three successive decisions some experts described as "blatantly provocative" and "anti-constitutional", Mr. Khamenehe'i first postponed the oath taking ceremonies, referred the dispute to the DA and ended by ordering the changes in the Majles procedures, thus reducing the 292 seats House into a rubber stamp chamber in the one hand and enhancing the powers of the DA on the other.
Analysts said though they were expecting the DA to take the side of the Judiciary, but they could not imagine Mr. Khamenehe'i dealing such a fatal blow to the Majles.
"This is the first time in Iran’s contemporary history that a ruler, even the most authoritarian and despotic of them, has dared to so blatantly humiliate the Majles, supposedly the regime’s most important and honoured power and openly slap lawmakers in the face. In fact, this is an unforgivable insult to the entire nation", commented angrily one jurist who asked for anonymity.
The leader’s provocative decision to back AD’s illegal decision in fact confirms a scenario worked out by Mr. Hashemi-Rafsanjani to use the absolute powers of the leader for replacing gradually the Parliament with the AD, placing this institution next, if not over the three other powers, analysts said.
"It was clear from events in the past weeks that efforts are under way to transfer the dispute between the Judiciary and the Legislative to the DA for final decision", said Deputy Speaker Mohsen Armin, who is a member of the Islamic Revolution Mujahedeen’s Organisation, one of the Second Khordad Coalition factions that supports the embattled President and his promised reforms, all foiled by the conservatives.
On the surface, the Majles might look as having bowed to the autocratic and egocentric Khamenehe'i, but by refusing massively to endorse the jurists, the lawmakers not only have slapped him in the face, but also treated him as the leader of the minority faction of the leadership.
"No matter how some analysts look at the events, describing the leader’s decision as an insult to the Majles, but the reality is that with their 162 blanc bulletins, the lawmakers in fact proved their determination to defend people’s will", commented MM (Member of the Majles) Mr. Qolam Heydar Ebrahim Baysalami.
Though there had been not a single word from Mr. Khatami during the four "tragic" days, but sources close to him described him as "very depressive, deeply hurt and feeling badly humiliated and betrayed". ENDS OATH TAKING 8801