Iranian President Protests Increase in Guardian Council Budget - 2003-03-15

In Iran, President Mohammad Khatami has walked out of a meeting of one of the influential policymaking bodies in protest against a significant increase in the budget of another hardline organization. The issue arose from the doubling of the Guardian Council's budget, which is a conservative legislative oversight body that has limited Khatami's reformist agenda. Several senior lawmakers also left today's meeting of the Expediency Discernment Council, a conservative body that mediates between the Islamic Consultative Assembly and the Guardian Council, which has the power to veto parliamentary legislation. The Expediency Discernment Council decided today to increase the Guardian Council's budget from five million dollars to twelve million five hundred thousand dollars. This is the first time Khatami has walked out of a meeting in protest since his significant victory in the 1997 elections. Although Khatami achieved another significant electoral victory in 2001, he has been unable to fulfill many of his reform promises due to opposition from hardline conservatives.