Position of Elected Institutions in Iran

Roozbeh Mirebrahimi -Roozonline-  2008.05.13

We read in the news that the head of the Expediency Council, Ali Akbar Hashemi ‎Rafsanjani, said in a speech that “moving forward, the Expediency Council will ‎implement more supervision on the administration’s policies.” ‎

The economically-oriented “Sarmaye” newspaper quoted Rafsanjani on Tuesday, “In ‎implementing Article 44 of the Constitution and the 20-year development plan, a great ‎deal of emphasis has been placed on human capital and expert management, the meaning ‎of which is that the era of trial and error has ended and we must be professional and move ‎according to plans.” ‎

Like always, Ahmadinejad’s opponents, including many reformists, welcomes the news ‎and, most likely, were overcome with joy because, “after all, this administration must be ‎controlled somehow.” ‎

The main point, however, is whether such welcomes are based on consistent analytical ‎foundations, meaning that, because Rafsanjani is now opposed to the administration, this ‎development is acceptable; or vice versa, because we are opposed to Ahmadinejad, we ‎must accept with open arms anything that curtails him. ‎

First of all, I believe that reformists who welcomed the Expediency Council’s supervision ‎have forgotten how loudly they screamed that unelected institutions are curtailing the ‎power of elected institution when similar developments were about to take place during ‎the previous administration’s reign. It does not matter who heads these institutions. ‎What is important is that we should not welcome any development that weakens semi-‎democratic institutions. Rather, we should continually empower such institutions against ‎unelected institutions. ‎

There is much criticism to be made about the undemocratic essence of institutions like ‎the presidency and the Majlis in the Islamic Republic system. Nevertheless, one should ‎never welcome the weakening of elected positions, such as presidency, by unelected ‎institutions headed by the supreme leader. ‎