Will Iran’s Parliament Overcome Guardian Council to Usher in a Reformist MP?

Iranian legislators passed a bill on Sunday that bars the Guardian Council’s disqualification of an MP-elect after the validity of an election is announced. Ironically, the bill needs the Guardian Council’s initial approval and has already been blocked once.

A previous query was rejected by the Guardian Council, the panel that supervises elections and legislations, for its ambiguity and failure to comply with the Principle 99 of the constitution. (Principle 99: The Guardian Council is responsible for supervising the elections of the Leadership Council of Experts, the President of the Republic, the Islamic Consultative Assembly, and referrals to the public vote and referenda.)

Many have taken the move’s main target to be restoration of the good-standing of Minoo Khaleghi, a representative-elect from Isfahan, who was barred from the parliament after the February election over hijab-less photos said to be obtained by hacking her cell phone.

The case of Khaleghi turned into a controversy as a number of pro-reform politicians and law experts found it an overt heretical manipulation of the Guardian Council’s legal authorities. The Reformist Coordination Council of Isfahan province rose in her defense and condemned the violation of her privacy. The director of the Reformist council, Ali Nekouei, told Iranian Labor News Agency (ILNA) that the individual was responsible in cases like this but the council would pursue the rights of those it invited to ballot boxes. The council submitted two separate letters to President Hassan Rouhani, asking him to pursue the issue. Despite assurances from the Rouhani administration, Minoo Khaleghi has not set foot in Majlis.

Hopes are once again renewed. Deputy Parliamentary Speaker Ali Motahari, who has been an avid advocate of ushering Khaleghi into the Tenth Majlis, says the renewed query has undergone reforms to cover both faults found by the Guardian Council. “The Guardian Council could express views on the validity of the election in a constituency. Naturally, when a candidate is elected by public vote, the elect cannot be disqualified. If new evidence emerges, it should be submitted to Majlis in order to be taken into account when the parliament investigates credentials,” he said.

“The legislation concerns the future and was not passed merely for the sake of Ms. Khaleghi, albeit it will probably resolve her problem, too,” state-run news agency ISNA quoted Motahari as saying.

“Jurists say that queries are always ex post facto because they are not new legislations. They are the previous law, only with a new reading. Therefore, the query will be automatically ex post facto, paving the way for Ms. Khaleghi’s entry to Majlis,” Motahari concluded.

The opponents of the ratification deem it as unnecessary. Tasnim News Agency quoted MP Alireza Salimi as addressing colleagues, during the open session of Majlis, that legislations of the kind are inappropriate, because “it is the same as the present procedure”.

Abdolkarim Hosseinzadeh, one of the parliamentarians who spoke in defense of the query, said it was meant to advocate the injustices attributed to the establishment. The query does not seek to impose restrictions on the Guardian Council but transparency in its conduct, he said.

Hardliner Kayhan daily lambasted the move with its signature exclamation marks, noting that its reemergence after the Supreme Leader’s recent guidelines for the election is questionable. Kayhan draws on Paragraph 13 of the Leader’s announcement, saying it calls for a mechanism for candidates to “perform their duties in the best way possible, observe their oath of allegiance, and prevent financial, ethical, and economic abuses”. The daily goes on noting that the guideline urges “necessary measures”, if evidence for disqualification is discovered.

Kayhan further questions the bid for what it sees as yet another inconsistency with the Supreme Leader’s guidelines, as paragraph 14 of the announcement calls for the ‘relative stability’ of electoral regulations when there is no need. Any modification should win at least two third of the votes in the parliament.

The petition earned 151 affirmatives, from a total number of 221 MPs who attended the session.

Despite common belief that the Guardian Council would once again reject the query, Motahari says a GC representative has attended the committee in charge of the query’s revisions. “The legislation will probably be endorsed by the Guardian Council, but even if it is rejected, the parliament will insist and refers the query to the Expediency Council,” he added.

Four months into the Tenth parliamentary term, the fate of Minoo Khaleghi’s membership in Majlis is still subject to twists. For the time being, Minoo Khaleghi is back to her academic job while her name frequents the front pages of reform-oriented newspapers, more so for her environmental activism and articles. Will she finally find the chance to enter Majles?