Iran to eliminate a popular vote for president?
source: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/11/analysis-no-elected-president-f...
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No Elected President for Iran?
[ analysis ] In mid-October, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a speech that Iran's executive presidency could be replaced by a parliamentary government if the interests of the state required it. The president, he implied, could be replaced by a prime minister. The remark, out of the blue, initially seemed off-hand, but now appears to have been quite deliberate and premeditated.
Ten days later, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, who is close to the Supreme Leader, endorsed and elaborated on the idea. He described Khamenei's remarks as "instructions" and said the leader was not speaking of replacing the president with a prime minister but electing him by parliament rather than in a popular vote. The Assembly of Experts, Larijani said, select the leader in their role as representatives of the people; the same principle could be applied to the selection of the president.
The Majles would work better with the president if the deputies elected him, Larijani said. Changing the system would also eliminate the difficulties and differences between president and parliament that Iran has recently experienced, he remarked. Larijani described the current stand-off between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Majles as a "structural problem" and an "ailment" in the system that needs to be addressed.
Larijani's remarks suggest that Khamenei is more serious about the idea of a change in the current system than first assumed, even though both Khamenei and Larijani have been careful to say that any change might be made in the future, even "the far distant future." Others in the political class seem to sense that something is afoot as well. A week later, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who rarely disagrees with Khamenei in public, strongly opposed the election of the president by any means other than a popular vote. Such a change, he said on his website, would weaken the republican character of Iran's governmental system and "limit the power of the people."
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/11/analysis-no-elected...
[ analysis ] In mid-October, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said in a speech that Iran's executive presidency could be replaced by a parliamentary government if the interests of the state required it. The president, he implied, could be replaced by a prime minister. The remark, out of the blue, initially seemed off-hand, but now appears to have been quite deliberate and premeditated.
Ten days later, Speaker of Parliament Ali Larijani, who is close to the Supreme Leader, endorsed and elaborated on the idea. He described Khamenei's remarks as "instructions" and said the leader was not speaking of replacing the president with a prime minister but electing him by parliament rather than in a popular vote. The Assembly of Experts, Larijani said, select the leader in their role as representatives of the people; the same principle could be applied to the selection of the president.
The Majles would work better with the president if the deputies elected him, Larijani said. Changing the system would also eliminate the difficulties and differences between president and parliament that Iran has recently experienced, he remarked. Larijani described the current stand-off between President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Majles as a "structural problem" and an "ailment" in the system that needs to be addressed.
Larijani's remarks suggest that Khamenei is more serious about the idea of a change in the current system than first assumed, even though both Khamenei and Larijani have been careful to say that any change might be made in the future, even "the far distant future." Others in the political class seem to sense that something is afoot as well. A week later, former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who rarely disagrees with Khamenei in public, strongly opposed the election of the president by any means other than a popular vote. Such a change, he said on his website, would weaken the republican character of Iran's governmental system and "limit the power of the people."
Read more: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tehranbureau/2011/11/analysis-no-elected...
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