HARD LINE COUNCILMEN SAY THEY WOULD BLOCK KHATAMI’S BILLS

TEHRAN, 5 Mar. (IPS) Strong opposition from hard-line clerics has cast serious doubt on whether two bills presented by the government of President Mohammad Khatami to the Majles last September will be approved, the American news agency Associated Press quoted a top Iranian official as having said Wednesday.

The bills, being debated at the reformist-dominated Majles, seek to enhance the powers of the president in the one hand while curtailing those of the Council of Guardians on the other, mostly the body’s self-accorded “Special Rights” that gives it – a 12-members, unelected body with considerable power, controlled directly by the leader of the regime – the authority to reject any candidate from any election without providing any explanation.

Both bills need to be approved by the Council of Guardians to become law. If rejected by the Council, they would come back to the Majles and in case they arte approved again, they would have to go to the Expediency Council -- a conservative body led by former president Ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and which, among other duties, also arbitrates between the Parliament and the CG -- for a final decision.

But prominent reformist lawmaker, Ali Shakouri-Rad, said the parliament will not refer the bills to the Expediency Council if they were rejected "because its composition is no better than the Council of Guardians. We may go to people's direct vote: referendum", he warned.

"Behind the scenes meetings between lawmakers and members of the Council of Guardians have further hardened each side's opposing views. The fate of the two bills is in serious doubt", the official told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Hard-line clerics, appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, have used their control of unelected bodies such as the Council of the Guardians and the Judiciary to block reform legislations, shut down about one hundred publications, most of them pro-reforms, and detain dozens of political activists and writers, the last of them being Qasem Sho’leh Sa’di, an outspoken lawyer and scholar.

"In private meetings, reformist lawmakers and aides to Khatami vowed not give up while some Guardians insisted there was no way they can approve the bills", the official said.

On Tuesday, Mr. Khameneh’i openly criticised pro-reform officials in charge of local elections held on Friday for allowing liberal dissidents to run. That criticism was interpreted as a sign of his opposition to the bill that proposed allowing candidates to run regardless of their political thinking.

Ayatollah Mohammad Yazdi, a member of the Guardian Council, told The Associated Press on Sunday that he opposes the bills. "Removing the Guardian Council's right of supervision means allowing lawbreakers to run (in elections)", Yazdi said then. ENDS REFORM BILLS 5303