In a surprise appearance at the Majles open session, the embattled President went into offensive against his conservative opponents who accuses him of "dictatorial drift" if the bills he has presented the Parliament were to be approved.

It is an irony that Khatami is accused of seeking "dictatorial powers" by the very people that thank to the unlimited powers vested in the hands of the leader, have constantly violated the Constitution, magnanimously ignored all the laws of the nation and overstepped their powers, observers noted.

The 12-members CG, with six of the clerics appointed by the leader, has also to approve all laws passed by the Majles, making sure they are in strict conformity with Islamic laws.

Using, or abusing of this power of rejecting candidates without providing explanation to the public, -- which a great number of specialists say the councilmen had bestowed it to themselves illegally --, the CG has rejected the candidacy of hundreds of pro-reform candidates at different elections, particularly those for the Majles.

The conservatives claim that the bills would increase the authority of the president to the level that he could even control the leader.

"If one is to worry about the risk of a dictatorial drift, and one must actually worry about that, one must look to the institutions who have the power to violate the Constitution, but who don't have to answer to the people", an emotional Khatami told cheering lawmakers.

He also rejected charges by hardliners that he was trying to set up "a monopoly of power", saying his reforms were necessary to face those who seek to undermine the Constitution and for the "establishment of democracy" and the "rule of law."

"With the help of God, I will not retreat in the face of threats and pressure from my decision to defend the rights and freedoms of the people", he added, according to the pro-Khatami official news agency IRNA.

The bills are seen by the president's supporters as a last-ditch attempt to revive his flagging reform effort, giving him the authority to take on the judiciary, one of the three constitutional powers that not only is still controlled by the hard liners, but also serves as the police and political arm of Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the lamed and unpopular leader of the Islamic Republic.

That finding, that was not published on orders of Mr. Khatami, so much angered the egocentric Khameneh'i that he ordered the polling firm closed down and its Director, Mr. Behrooz Geranpayeh, jailed on charges of "fabricating opinion" and "espionage for foreign powers".

According to IRNA, that published the result of the survey two weeks ago, 75 per cent of people said they favour resuming relations with the United States, thus "slapping" Mr. Khameneh'i, who opposes even the idea of talking to the Americans.

Given the fact that the present Majles is overwhelmingly controlled by the reformers, it is certain that the bills would be approved by lawmakers, but rejected by the CG, leaving the bill's fate in the hands of the Expediency Council, an arbitration body also dominated by conservatives and chaired by former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who usually sides with the CG.

"I am happy to see that those who generally reject democracy have criticized these two bills by invoking a rejection of dictatorship", Khatami charged, observing that he himself being "responsible to the people, the Majles the leader", he could not become a dictator.

I have "the right and the duty to guarantee respect for the Constitution" and "to act with all means ... against those who violate" it, he reiterated.

"Mr. Khatami told straight his opponents that he would continue pushing with both the bills and his reform policy, at a time that 90 per cent of the people want changes in the present system, with more than half of them defending radical changes, meaning the abolition of political structures based on the concept of velayat faqih and its replacement with a democratic one", observed Mr. Behrooz Khaliq, a political analyst.

"The decrease of the number of supporters of reforms in the one hand and on the other the increasing number of those who want changes shows that a majority of the people have realised the necessity for changing the whole of political structures", he observed, adding that the way they (the conservatives) dealt with the recent polling survey shows they would never bow to people’s demand. "Hence their labelling referendum as a kind of rebellion aimed at toppling (the regime)".

"However, sooner or latter, this popular demand of changing the velayat faqih system would become the central question in the nation’s political scene", he concluded, insisting that referendum is the best and peaceful mean to achieve this vital goal of reaching real democracy. KHATAMI GOES OFFENSIVE 211002