Overview of the Most Controversial Resolutions of the Ninth Parliament

One of the characteristics of the ninth parliament was that it began with the final term of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency and ended during the mid-term of Hassan Rouhani's presidency. Therefore, part of the behavior and performance of this parliament was influenced by actions or reactions to the performance of the tenth and eleventh governments in Iran. Looking at the composition of the conservatives in the ninth parliament, which included a radical faction of this political movement, it was expected that there would be special proposals, speeches, and even oversight particularly in cultural and social areas. The proposal to combat population decline, allowing the head of the family to marry an adopted child, establishing a headquarters for promoting virtue and preventing vice, and the proposal to reject the obligation of registering temporary marriages were among the most controversial resolutions of the ninth parliament. Ehsan Mehrabi, a former parliamentary reporter in Iran, also believes that the most controversial proposals of the ninth parliament were passed in two cultural and social areas: "In general, it can be said that the social and cultural proposals of the ninth parliament were more aimed at controlling and restricting cultural areas and individual freedoms, and usually, the government opposed these proposals. Among them was the prohibition of preventing pregnancy, which sparked a lot of controversy. The discussion of promoting virtue and preventing vice was a very broad issue that had been ongoing for a long time, along with other proposals that have not yet reached a conclusion, such as the proposal to protect the sanctity of chastity and hijab or the bill that required a father's permission for unmarried daughters to travel, which did not reach a conclusion and were among the newsworthy issues in the ninth parliament." Although proposals such as the prohibition of walking dogs and other animals in public and opposition to women's presence in stadiums can be named as controversial proposals of the ninth parliament, the disagreement between the ninth parliament and Hassan Rouhani's government in the cultural sphere was over the granting of illegal scholarships during Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's presidency, which ultimately culminated in the impeachment of the then Minister of Science and direct intervention by Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, in this case, which somewhat concluded the issue. But why were the most controversial resolutions of the ninth parliament enacted in social and cultural areas, and why was the confrontation between the government and parliament more evident in these two areas than in others? Ali-Asghar Ramadanpour, an assistant in the Ministry of Culture during Mohammad Khatami's government, believes that: "The ninth parliament was located in the last two years of Mr. Ahmadinejad's government, where many of the economic and political issues of the early years of Ahmadinejad's government were not present, and it was more of an opportunity to implement social policies that were mainly desired by Mr. Khamenei. The parliament, ignoring this atmosphere of social resistance, implemented some restrictive regulations on social activities. In the cultural field, the cultural commission became more active, especially during Mr. Rouhani's term, where it effectively acted as a limiting factor for the activities of the Ministry of Culture. Therefore, it can be said that the main important activities, even political activities of the parliament, were social and cultural activities during its term." Another resolution of the ninth parliament that received significant media attention was the proposal to pursue compensation for the August 28, 1953 coup, under which the government was to pursue complaints against the United States and Britain and seek compensation for their role in the coup against Mohammad Mossadegh's government. According to this proposal, a committee consisting of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, a representative of the head of the judiciary, the Minister of Intelligence, the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, the Minister of Economy, the head of the National Security Commission, and the head of the Budget and Planning Commission of the parliament was responsible for pursuing compensation for the August 28 coup. This resolution was approved in September 2013 and a few days later was sent by Ali Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, to Hassan Rouhani, the President, for implementation. In December 2009, a similar initiative was approved in the eighth parliament at the request of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for evaluating and demanding compensation for the damages of World War II to Iran. However, despite the promotions and noise surrounding the pursuit of such proposals by parliament members, no reports have been published in Iranian media regarding their fate and any potential actions in this regard. Although the slogan of the eleventh government and even the campaign slogans of Hassan Rouhani, the President of Iran, were to resolve the nuclear case and boost the economy, it seemed that the most obstacles that the conservative ninth parliament could place against the eleventh government were in these nuclear and economic areas. However, according to Ehsan Mehrabi, despite several noisy proposals in these areas from representatives, the ninth parliament was more cooperative with the government in this regard: "It is true that the parliament had numerous proposals regarding Iran's nuclear case, including a series of proposals that sought to halt nuclear negotiations. But ultimately, with the intervention of Mr. Larijani, the Speaker of the Parliament, the parliament effectively accommodated the government's views on the nuclear case. In the economic field, proposals such as the proposal to exit recession or the parliament's vote on the law to reform direct taxes and the proposal to re-establish the Management and Planning Organization can be said to have all been close to the government's views of Mr. Rouhani." The proposal obligating the government to preserve nuclear achievements, which was approved in June 2015 in the ninth parliament, was one of the resolutions that sparked debate among representatives within the parliament and also caused displeasure in the diplomatic apparatus of Hassan Rouhani's government when the nuclear negotiations with global powers reached their most sensitive point, as this proposal presented demands as prerequisites for Iran's acceptance of the nuclear agreement, complicating the negotiation process with Western powers. Nevertheless, the approval of the implementation of Iran's nuclear agreement with global powers known as the JCPOA, although briefly approved in the ninth parliament, sparked significant debates among supporters and opponents of this proposal both among parliament representatives and with government representatives in this area. In reviewing the performance of the ninth parliament in the field of domestic politics, considering issues related to national elections, there were many proposals and resolutions that became controversial. From reviewing the political crime bill that led to the approval of the house arrest law to approving lifetime rights for parliament representatives and their qualification for the next round of elections. Ehsan Mehrabi states in this regard: "In political areas, the ninth parliament had proposals such as the parties law, the political crime bill, which became very sensitive due to the provisions for house arrest. Regarding these bills, it can be said that they were somewhat aimed at reducing political freedoms, and the proposals pursued in the parliament usually faced opposition from Hassan Rouhani's government. On the other hand, the parliament had other proposals to reform electoral laws that also became newsworthy, including reforming the election law and candidate conditions, regional elections, or the electoral costs bill, which has not yet reached a conclusion, and most of these proposals either faced opposition from the Guardian Council and did not reach a conclusion or in some cases were opposed by the government." However, alongside the controversial proposals and resolutions, the ninth parliament also set a record in one other area, which was issuing warnings and questioning the tenth and eleventh governments. According to statistics from the Islamic Consultative Assembly's information base, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his cabinet received nearly five thousand warnings and one thousand questions from the ninth parliament. The government of Hassan Rouhani also faced nearly the same amount of questioning and warnings from the ninth parliament, with its ministers receiving 16 yellow cards, and two ministers of education and science and research were effectively impeached in the ninth parliament, with Reza Faraji-Dana, the then Minister of Science, ultimately failing to gain renewed confidence from the ninth parliament.