Iranian Parliament deputies suspended the three-star bill
on amending the electoral law on Tuesday, IRNA reported from Tehran.
During the open session of Majlis this morning, the MPs suspended
the bill for an indefinite period of time.
The Guardians Council vetoed the emergency amendment to the
electoral law, hours after the Majlis approved it on Sunday, saying it
contained points contrary to Islam and the Constitution.
The council's public relations office on Monday confirmed the
rejection, saying it found the bill 'contravening the Sharia law and
the Constitution over some cases'.
The amendment included addition of two clauses to the electoral
law as countermeasure to the supervisory Guardians Council's rejection
of many parliamentary aspirants on the ground that they lacked faith
in Islam and the Islamic establishment.
One clause envisaged that a candidate, whose record is in
question, can run in the contests if his or her qualification is
endorsed by at least 10 local confidants, including city and village
councilors as well as Friday prayer leaders.
The other clause stated that any candidate whose qualification
has been approved once cannot be barred unless there is a criminal
evidence against him or her.
Over 3,600 candidates from among more than 8,000 of those
registered for the February 20 elections have been declared as
disqualified by the supervisory electoral boards. The first and second
Majlis deputies Mohammad Reza Khatami and Behzad Nabavi are among the
disqualified.
Meanwhile, Mohsen Mirdamadi, an MP from Tehran and head of the
Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Commission said, "We have
repeatedly said that we do not consider disqualification of candidates
as according to the law and therefore there is no need to reform the
law. The disqualification process is illegal, factional and based on
personal tastes."
We are familiar with the fault-finding nature of the Guardians
Council, he said, adding that reforming the bill will not solve any
problem.
"Sending it to the Expediency Council would not solve any problem
either, so therefore abandoning it is the best choice," Mirdamadi
said.
... Payvand News - 1/27/04 ... --
