From 'Slaughter of the Parliament' to 'Document of Slavery'

The stamp of the Speaker of Parliament on an interpretative plan regarding 'the limited time for examining the qualifications of candidates before the elections' has yet to dry when the Guardian Council has preemptively rejected this interpretative plan and has extended its oversight over the behavior of representatives for the entire four-year term of their representation. What the Secretary and Spokesman of the Guardian Council have stated in two separate programs is an interpretation of the new directive from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei regarding the general policies of elections. The Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, in paragraph 13 of these policies, has called for 'determining the necessary mechanisms for the proper execution of representative duties, adherence to the oath, prevention of financial, economic, and ethical abuses, and taking necessary actions in case of the loss or discovery of the lack of conditions for parliamentary representation in the elected representatives.' Abbasali Kadkhodai, the spokesman, and Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary-General of the Guardian Council, have stated one day apart that this paragraph of the general election policies obliges them to maintain continuous oversight over representatives, which will continue even after the approval of their credentials. Although Kadkhodai had to take a step back after the protests of parliament members and the objections of legal experts, explaining in an interview that the oversight authority over parliament members was not specified in the directives and that a law must be passed in this regard. Nevertheless, the issue of the Guardian Council's entry into representative affairs is not new. Since the day the 'exploratory oversight' of this institution's members changed to 'supervisory oversight,' the composition of the parliament has effectively been shaped according to the wishes and opinions of the 12 members of the Guardian Council, and the way for many independent, critical, opposing, and dissenting figures to enter the parliament has been closed. Furthermore, all representatives' resolutions must be approved by the Guardian Council members to gain legal and official status. However, the experience of parliaments such as the sixth term showed that despite widespread disqualifications and deeming many representatives' resolutions contrary to Islamic law and regulations, complete control over speeches, warnings, letters, factional decisions, inquiries, and reports of committees and commissions of the parliament could not be achieved. Even the supreme governmental orders of Ayatollah Khamenei and the involvement of the judiciary in cases such as the arrest of 'Hossein Laghmanian' for delivering a speech protesting the detention of national and religious activists could not make the parliament's atmosphere uniform and nominal. In the case of the arrest of the representative from Hamadan in the sixth parliament, ultimately, with the threat of resignation from Mehdi Karroubi, the then Speaker of Parliament, and the unified protests of political currents and representatives from both reformist and principlist factions, Laghmanian was released 20 days after his arrest. The protesters relied on Articles 84 and 86 of the Constitution. Article 84 holds each representative accountable to the entire nation and grants them the right to express opinions on domestic and foreign issues. Article 86 of the Islamic Republic's Constitution states: 'Members of the parliament are completely free in their opinions and votes while performing their representative duties, and they cannot be prosecuted or detained for the opinions expressed in the parliament or the votes cast in the performance of their representative duties.' Of course, this law was altered by the interpretative ruling of the Head of the Judiciary from the Guardian Council, opening the way for the formation of judicial cases against representatives. In 2001, Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the then Head of the Judiciary, questioned the limits of the representatives' immunity, and the Guardian Council, 'while respecting the judicial immunity of representatives,' excluded cases such as slander against individuals from this rule. However, the issue of increased oversight over representatives was first explicitly and publicly raised by Ayatollah Khamenei on June 8, 2010, during a meeting with the eighth parliament representatives. The Supreme Leader emphasized in that meeting that 'a supervisory mechanism must be defined in the parliament so that if someone abuses or neglects their duties in representation, they can be held accountable.' The result of this recommendation was a plan titled 'Oversight of Representatives' Performance,' presented by the principlists in parliament, which led to widespread protests. Critics argued that this plan would turn the parliament into an ineffective and submissive institution. Even figures like Ayatollah Safi Golpaygani told Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the eighth parliament, that this plan would lead to the majority overseeing the minority, which contradicts the philosophy of representatives' independence. One of the most severe and explicit protests came from Mehdi Karroubi. He wrote to the representatives from house arrest, warning that their plan was 'the slaughter of the parliament' that 'destroys the foundations of the republic and constitutionalism of the government.' The Speaker of the third and sixth parliaments wrote to the future heirs of Baharestan in the eighth term, saying, 'Do not buy the disgrace of passing this plan, which is a death blow to the legislative institution, for yourselves, and let them implement such a program in an institution outside the parliament.' Despite all the opposition, the plan, which according to Ali Motahari, a Tehran representative, was a 'document of slavery,' was approved. After that, the Supervisory Board on the Behavior of Representatives was formed in the ninth parliament. Now, after the formation of the tenth parliament, where once again a group of reformists and figures close to this current have managed to occupy parliamentary seats and move the parliament away from the dominant principlist state after three terms, the discussion of increased oversight over them has been raised again. This time, the Guardian Council has stepped into the arena relying on the Supreme Leader's directive to monitor the parliament members. All of this is happening at a time when parliament members hoped that with the recent approval of their interpretative plan regarding the scope of the Guardian Council's oversight, they would pave the way for the entry of 'Mino Khaleghi,' the first elected representative of Isfahan, into the parliament. A person whose election was invalidated due to disqualification by the Guardian Council. Currently, eyes are on the 'Comprehensive Election Bill' by the government to clarify various issues, including the degree of freedom and independence of representatives in legislation and oversight. A bill that the cabinet has promised to deliver to the parliament soon.