The Quest for Authority in Iran: A History of the Presidency From Revolution to Rouhani by Siavush Randjbar-Daemi

Author:Siavush Randjbar-Daemi [Randjbar-Daemi, Siavush]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Leadership, Religion, Religion; Politics & State, Iran, Islam, Campaigns & Elections, Modern, Middle Eastern, 20th Century, Middle East, Political Science, Political Process, World, History, General
ISBN: 9781786722676
Google: L9WLDwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 34794652
Publisher: I.B. Tauris
Published: 2017-11-30T13:06:48+00:00

THE SEVENTH MAJLES ELECTIONS: THE SWANSONG OF THE KHATAMI ERA

Khatami's failure to secure the approval of either of the Twin Bills brought to the fore front the shortcomings and limitations of his modus operandi. The president's decision to seek accommodation with his opponents and refrain from any disruptive initiative, such as resignation, convening a referendum or calling for popular protests, also played into the rast's hand. The conservatives increasingly exploited Khatami's unwillingness to back his more radical allies and stifled the eslahtalaban in several ways. The disenchantment of the electorate with the reformists became evident in the spring of 2003, when a record low turnout – 14 per cent in the capital Tehran – marked the end of the control of Khatami's allies over many city councils and the rise of a new class of populist conservatives.

The unsuccessful attempt to modify the Majles elections law also coincided with the resumption of a persistent use of nezarat-e estesvabi by the Guardian Council. In December 2003, the supervisory body announced that over 4,000 prospective candidates, 82 of whom were sitting MPs, had been disqualified from the forthcoming parliamentary race due to vague reasons such as the lack of eltezam-e amali, or practical commitment to the velayat-e faqih principle. The biased nature of the Guardian Council's intervention was highlighted by Mirdamadi, who explained that the Guardian Council had put into place a non-military coup which resulted in at least 180 constituencies having a pre-defined outcome in favour of conservative candidates. The JDK could effectively compete in no more than a hundred seats.30

The verdict set off a new wave of protest. Behzad Nabavi and Mohammad Reza-Khatami, the excluded outgoing deputy speakers, sent strongly-worded appeals to the Guardian Council in which they emphasised their decades of struggle for the Islamic Revolution, before and after 1979. The president's brother accused the Council of openly violating the constitution and noted that little or nothing would be left of the legacy of the Revolution and the values of Khomeini should the disqualifications remain in place.31

On 12 January, the reformist deputies decided to start an unprecedented tahason, or sit-in, which was to last for 26 days, within the Majles building. The MPs camped in the corridors, effectively suspending the normal operation of the chamber, while asking the Council to rescind its arbitrary and unilateral decision. The success of the initiative was largely dependent upon the support the protesting deputies could receive from leading institutional figures. The Majles Speaker Mehdi Karrubi initially backed the protest and vigorously stated that the only acceptable course of action would be a return to the first ten years of the Islamic Republic, when the Guardian Council lacked the power to reject candidacies pre-emptively. Several regional governors, who were tasked with the logistical preparations of the polling operations, visited the tahason and voiced their readiness to thwart the organisation of ‘superficial and artificial’ elections.32 The Interior Minister Mousavi-Lari also stated his intention to avoid buckling under the pressure of the oversight body.

The pressure on the

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