Iran's deputy president and head of the management
and planning organization (MPO) Mohammad Sattarifar said in Tehran Monday that President Khatami's cabinet will "definitely dissolve itself if it feels it cannot perform its duty in safeguarding the sound process of a fair parliamentary election", the official IRNA news agency reported.
According to the MPO's Public Relations Department, cited by the agency, Sattarifar said, "The government is entangled in a tough situation currently, since it is on one hand in charge of safeguarding the people's rights,
and on the other hand, responsible for the sound process of the elections."
The deputy president further said, "According to the articles of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, our political system is based on religious
democracy, and so if the government becomes impotent in securing the legitimate freedoms of the nation, it loses its legitimacy, and then whether it dissolves itself or not, it is automatically dissolved."
Sattarifar added, "If we segregate the people from their political system, we have in fact paved the way for a big national loss, since the greatest pride for a system is relying on the nation's support and the greater the extent of that support, the more stable gets the political system."
He further asked, "Are we not right in assuming that denying them the right to be elected is politically motivated and not a legally approved move?"
Quoting President Khatami, the deputy president said, "The
president has in many occasions announced that the elections process has to be based on the country's laws."
He added, "President Khatami's cabinet has been feeling shocked during the past 48 hours and the country's governor generals have announced they cannot continue with performing their duties under the current conditions."
The deputy president concluded, "At any rate, the present
parliament, that it going through a political crisis, is currently commissioned [with] two tough tasks, namely approving the annual budget and passing the Fourth Comprehensive Economic and Social Development
Plan."
On Monday, a prominent Iranian reformist MP accused Tehran's "hardliners" of staging a "coup d'etat" by disqualifying large numbers of reformers from standing in next month's parliamentary elections. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
