Reformists say according to the Islam-based Constitution of the Islamic Republic, not only the president is the second highest-ranking personage of the regime after the leader, but he also has the responsibility for the application of the Constitution by all the regime’s powers and institutions, including the Judiciary or the Legislative, and its respect by all.

"The Constitution holds that the Chief Executive is responsible for implementing the law of land. But three years ago, I noted that the Constitution was not being monitored precisely, therefore I called for new approaches to be adopted to clarify this presidential task", Mr. Khatami told a group of lawmakers, failing to explain why he waited such a long time before acting, or why it took him more than two years before realising that the Constitution was not respected by some power centres.

The long-awaited bill, which would enable the president to have judiciary and parliamentary officials removed from office if they violated the Constitution or overstepped their powers, was presented the Majles last Tuesday and immediately came under acid attack from the conservatives-controlled press and circles.

According to an article of the controversial bill, termed by some conservative hard-liners as "utterly unconstitutional", also calls for the establishment of a committee to be formed at the Supreme Court to arbitrate over court rulings the president deems "irrelevant".

Opening the salvo, Mr. Hoseyn Shari’atmadari, the leader-appointed Editor of the hard-line "Keyhan" newspaper described the controversial bill as "smelling dictatorship" and "encouraging chaos" and urged the Council of the Guardians (CG) to reject it "at once".

In a long and articulated article published Saturday, Mr. Shari’atmadari, after enumerating the use of wrong or vague words, weak and baseless legal argumentation, numerous cases where the bill run against articles of the Constitution, as well as plenty of contradictions the bill contains, concluded that not only the bill is "unconstitutional", but also "unprecedented" in the history of the Islamic Republic.

Other conservative tenors went even further, accusing the powerless President of "siding with foreign enemies" who wants to "turn the Iranian Islamic democracy into a full fledged dictatorship".

They add that by getting the powers he seek, the President can reject courts decisions or veto laws approved by the Majles, and on the pretext that they do not fit with the Constitution, he would remove lawmakers immunity and endanger the independence of the Judiciary.

Furthermore, based on the bill, even the leader would become respondable to the president, for, as the Authority that directly controls the Judiciary, the Armed Forces, the public media, the secret services, the Clergymen Special Tribunal and several other key institutions, in case any of them is deemed by the president to have acted against the Constitution, the leader would be hold responsible, while, according to the Constitution of the Islamic Republic, the leader above all laws, including the Constitution itself.

Another objection the conservatives raise against the bill is the "fear" that in case Khatami is replaced by a man "animated by autocratic motivations", he can use the expanded presidential powers to impose a dictatorship.

Reformists’ greatest difficulty is that they want proceed with reforms within the present system and its two-headed Constitution, while most political activists, scholars and legal experts have reached the conclusion that it is the Constitution itself that must be revised.