The EC, officially an institution set to serve as an advisory board to the leader of the regime in the one hand and to arbitrate between the CG and the Majles whenever the two institutions could not agree on the legal matters, as all laws passed by the Majles must be approved by the conservatives-controlled Guardians for their strict conformity with Islamic laws.

But since the victory of the reformists in the past parliamentary elections, the 12-members CG has rejected most of the laws approved by the Majles and was confirmed in its decisions every time the dispute had gone for arbitration to the ADIS, which is chaired by the former president, considered as the regime’s number two man after the leader, but above the president.

On its Saturday session, the EC decided single handed to increase the budget of the leader-controlled CG by more than two folds, up from an initial 4.5 billion Iranian Rials allocated in the government’s general budget for the fast approaching new Iranian year of 1382, which begins on 21 March, to over 10 billions (the equivalent of some 11.5 Euros).

["The EC cut the CG’s budget by 40 per cent", the hard line evening daily "Keyhan" announced Sunday under a big front-page title aimed at further humiliating the reformists, saying that the initial budget rise was for 12 billion Rials].

The leader appoints all members of the ADIS, which also included both Khatami and Karroobi, who, on Sunday, warned that the deputies would never accept the ADIS’ 60-billion-Rial rise for the Guardians.

The EC’s controversial decision met a storm of criticism in the Sunday session of the Majles. As some deputies were shouting loudly "shut the Majles", others said there are five different organs involved in law making.

In a petition, 150 lawmakers protested the Saturday decision of the EC, described it as an "illegal innovation" that confirms the trend adopted by the CG in blocking reform-introducing laws approved by the Majles and called on the EC to remove it.

The deputies reminded that according to the Constitution, not only the Majles must approve the government budget, but also as any change deemed necessary.

He described those in the EC who approved the CG’s budget rise as "authoritarians" and assured that all lawmakers, particularly the reformists, would stand up to the decision by urging the Speaker not to pass the controversial decision on the government for application.

According to the official news agency IRNA, Karroobi explained that the cabinet and the Management and Planning Organisation (MPO) had agreed to formulate plans to remove the GC's anticipated budget deficit in the next Iranian year via "other resources".

The decision to stop participating in legislative activities by parliament's largest faction suggested that reformists had adopted a more combative stance in their ongoing power struggle with hardliners who, led by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i, the leader of the Islamic Republic, control all key positions of power in Iran.

Ali Shakoori-Rad, an influential reformist deputy told the British news service "Reuters" that parliament's reformist faction would ''not take part in any decisions in parliament until the problem over the CG is resolved'', noting that the reformist faction held 215 seats in the 290-member Majles.

Political analysts observed that the decision to increase the CG’s budget came after the Majles approved two bills the embattled President had presented the House last September, challenging in the one hand the powerful Guardians by curtailing their right to vet all candidates to any election and on the other, confirm the prerogative of the president concerning the application of the Constitution, a responsibility that the leader-controlled Judiciary says belongs to it, not to the Executive.

Khatami's unprecedented walk-out from the EC meeting and the legislative boycott threat follow a crushing defeat the reformists suffered in the last month cities and rural councils elections, with a great majority of voters expressing their disappointment with both the President and the reformist’s failure to deliver the reforms they had promised some six years ago.

Several reformist lawmakers and personalities openly blamed the very person of Mr. Khatami for the defeat, urging him to reshuffle his cabinet and change his political line, based so far on compromise, conciliation and bowing to the leader, in order to meet the high expectations for change, as expressed by the young generation.