Haddad Adel Opposes Amendment to the Elections Law

Roozonline.com

Soon after Iran’s current parliament postponed reviewing the bill to amend the elections law and the efforts of pro-administration representatives to throw out the bill intensified, a former Majlis Speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel joined the ranks of those who believe that the passage of this bill would not be in the interests of the country. A member of Majlis’ research unit predicted that some provisions of the bill would be rejected by the Guardians Council when it went to it for review.

On the last days of October, Iran’s Majlis added the draft bill to amend the country’s elections law to its agenda, but soon after that discussion of the bill by the full chamber was postponed for two weeks because of repeated protests by legislators.

Now, the head of the Principlist faction in the Majlis (i.e., the group that support the supreme leader), Haddad Adel, who is also a former Speaker of parliament, announced that he opposed the bill altogether because it was “not in the interests of the country.” He said the bill had many issues one of which one was related to article 35 of the current elections law which dealt with the presidential elections and is addressed in article 7 of the amendment bill.

Article 7 of the amendment bill specifies the qualifications of presidential candidates. It says that religious leaders must be approved by at least 25 members of the Experts Assembly on Leadership or the Management Council of a provincial theological center. The article also specifies that the requirement for presidential candidacy to be “certification that the person has served for four years at a senior level as specified in article 71 in the government or civil service law after the victory of the Islamic revolution or confirmation by at least 100 current members of the Majlis or individuals who have served in the Majlis, been a cabinet minister, vice-president, deputy minister, ambassador and governor, secretary general of a political party and legal organizations.”

But opposition to the bill is not restricted to Adel. Some Majlis members also have criticized it. Nader Ghazipour from Orumie, for example, has said that if this amendment is passed, then one needs to say goodbye to private and non-governmental candidates. “This is because non-governmental individuals cannot compete with government officials leaving only members of factions, political parties and other peripheral to become presidential candidates. Clerics and university professors too cannot be candidates because their personality does not allow them to go after 400 people to approve them.” He continued, “If 100 individuals had to certify that a candidate qualified to be a political elite, 100 others had to certify that he was a qualified manager and another 200 had to certify that he was thoughtful then a president would be indebted to 400 people from day one of his office. How can such a person be impartial and just? This would result in jobs being given to unqualified individuals.”

The bill to amend the elections law has already created controversial debates, and at times harsh ones. Those close to Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have denounced the bill as “dead on arrival” while his critics say that those who dislike the law take that position because the bill if passed would end their political plans for the elections.

Raja News – a site close to Ahmadinejad - has criticized the Majlis and the Councils committee and denounced the bill arguing that the rights of the people are denied by this bill as are the rights of the Guardians Council to vet election candidates as outlined in the constitution. The news agency also blames the Councils committee of the Majlis for acting contrary to the provisions of the constitution regarding presidential candidates.

Shafaf News on the other hand – close to Morteza Talai – takes the position that those who criticize the bill do so because if passed it would prevent Ahmadinejad from pursuing the Putin-Medvedev model whereby he became prime minister for a term to once again qualify to return as a presidential candidate.

Principlists however have different opinions about the bill. Morteza Nabavi, the responsible manger of Resalat newspaper, for example believes that the Guardians Council would reject the bill because it had indicated that executive jobs could not be given to non-governmental individuals or to councils.

Hossein Nejabat, a member of the Jamiate Isargaran Engelab Islami (Assembly of the Devotees of the Islamic revolution) also opposes the bill. This is a group to which Ahmadinejad once belonged. Nejabat said that if the bill is not refined and redefined, then it would add to the chaos. “One of the problems we have had in the past is that many people would register as candidates but at no time did the Guardians Council have a problem with this and would accept the qualifications of between 5 to 15 candidates, and things would then move on without a problem.”

Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh, a member of the Steadfast Front (Jebhe Paydari) and a Majlis member also opposed the bill and said that if its requirements were applied to Ahmadinejad, he would not be qualified for the office of the president. He went further and said that even someone like Jalili, the secretary of the supreme national security council would be rejected even though he has had 8 years of service in the council.