Parliament's Plan for New Changes in Election Law

The Khorasan newspaper published a report on the approval of the "generalities of the new parliament plan to change the election law," citing Mohammad Javad Kolivand, a representative from Karaj, who stated that one of the goals of this plan is to "reform the voting age" in the Assembly of Experts elections. The Iran newspaper reported, citing the Deputy Minister of Interior, on the "agreement between the Ministry of Interior and the Guardian Council" regarding "transparent ballot boxes". According to this newspaper, Hossein Ali Amiri stated: "Recently, together with the Minister of Interior, we attended an official meeting of the Guardian Council, which included all members of the council, and in this meeting, the latest status of the elections in Esfand this year was discussed" and "one of the discussions in this meeting was related to the selection of ballot boxes and their transparency, and most members present at the meeting agreed on choosing transparent ballot boxes that are visible inside." The Deputy Minister of Interior stated that "the legislator has placed the principle on keeping the people's votes secret," and said: "Therefore, these boxes will be designed in such a way that while the inside is transparent and visible, the votes of the people will not be readable." The Etemad newspaper published the results of a poll of 100 parliament members regarding the legal fate of the "JCPOA," describing the future of this poll as a "decisive yes against a tacit no." According to this newspaper, 67% of the hundred participating representatives responded to the question of whether "if the JCPOA is presented to the parliament as a bill, what do you predict about the final opinion of the representatives in favor or against it?" stating that this bill "will be approved in parliament," while 33% said that the approval of this bill "is still uncertain." Sadegh Khrazi, Secretary-General of the Iranian Voice Party, emphasized in an interview with Etemad newspaper that he is "a critic of some behaviors in the name of reformism," explaining his published remarks in an interview with the Triangular weekly, close to the principlists, stating, "I remember people who negotiated with foreigners when I was an ambassador and gave tips to the enemy; I do not accept them as reformists" and "from this explicit statement, neither a relationship with reformists arises nor an accusation against them is raised." Etemad newspaper quoted Sadegh Khrazi as saying that "some principlist media have been trying for some time to infiltrate the reformist front. This is not their first time, and it will not be their last." This newspaper also reminded that the Triangular weekly had previously published another phrase attributed to Sadegh Khrazi, stating: "I remember people who negotiated with foreigners when I was an ambassador and gave tips to the enemy; I do not accept them as reformists, I have their list, and if necessary, I will present it to the people one day." The Iran newspaper reported on the possibility of a visit by Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, to Tehran, describing it as "Mahmoud Abbas's lead over Khaled Mashal." The Shahrvand newspaper also reported on the parliament's plan to increase fines for "badly veiled women," stating: "The parliament has proposed heavy penalties for women whose hijab is considered improper while driving or whose headscarf has fallen off: a fine of 100,000 tomans and 10 negative points," and in addition, for "female government employees, inclusion in their file and deduction from salaries" is part of the punishments for "not observing Islamic hijab." The Aftab Yazd newspaper headlined its Wednesday issue: "Iran's oil has been freed." This newspaper wrote: "The U.S. government has prepared new guidelines on how to purchase crude oil and petrochemical products from Iran during the period before the finalization of Western sanctions. According to the mentioned guidelines, until the complete implementation of the nuclear agreement, which takes about five months, Iran's oil exports have been completely and earlier than scheduled freed." The Shargh newspaper also wrote in its Wednesday issue, "The sale of black gold has been freed," but simultaneously quoted Mohsen Qamsari, director of international affairs at the National Oil Company, stating: "This news is unclear whether it is accurate and whether the basis for its announcement by Argus Media is a reliable source or not. The accuracy of this should be checked with Iran's oil customers to see if they have been informed that there is no prohibition on selling Iranian oil or not." The Hemayat newspaper, affiliated with the prison organization, published the reaction of the head of the judiciary to the release of a farewell video of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani with his son Mehdi Hashemi, quoting Sadegh Larijani as saying: "The rulings and issued verdicts are not only related to the weak and ordinary people of society, and we should not create an atmosphere in such a way that anyone who has been in charge at some time and now a ruling has been issued against him or his relatives, questions the entire judiciary and everything and creates a farewell video to undermine the judiciary." However, Mohsen Hashemi stated in an interview with the Arman newspaper that his father Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani "remains silent about Mehdi's case" so that "his personal issues and family do not harm the revolution and Iran, although he has much to say and we have much to say." The Vatan-e-Emruz newspaper, close to the Stability Front, in its Wednesday issue's headline and photo accused some foreign television networks, including BBC Persian and Voice of America, as well as Masoud Behnoud, a range of newspapers and journalists in Iran, labeling them as "the internal network of Western media operatives" and called for action against them. The parliament's plan for new changes in the election law. The Khorasan newspaper published a report on the approval of the "generalities of the new parliament plan to change the election law," citing Mohammad Javad Kolivand, a representative from Karaj, who stated that one of the goals of this plan is to "reform the voting age" in the Assembly of Experts elections. This newspaper quoted Mohammad Javad Kolivand about the content of the new changes in the election law: "The election campaign times for the Islamic Council and the Assembly of Experts do not align, which we have aligned; also, the voting age in the Islamic Council is 18 years, but in the election law for the Assembly of Experts, it is 15 years, which should be corrected." Mohammad Javad Kolivand, the Deputy Chairman of the Council and Internal Affairs Commission of the 9th Parliament, referring to the simultaneous holding of elections for the Islamic Councils and the Assembly of Experts, said: "If we want to implement these elections simultaneously by the Ministry of Interior, we must merge some of the laws that are in the execution of both to prevent multiple costs." This parliament member stated: "Since the laws of the Assembly of Experts must be approved by the Assembly of Experts, we face a problem in the executive committees, meaning that the governors must invite 30 people and have them approved by the Guardian Council and select eight of them for the executive committee. If this happens, we must form one executive committee for the Islamic Council elections and another executive committee for the Assembly of Experts elections, so here the difference between the executive committee of the parliament and the executive committee of the Assembly of Experts is regarding the invitation of clerics, which we have merged, meaning that the executive committee formed for the parliament elections will also be the executive committee for the Assembly of Experts elections." According to the Khorasan newspaper, another change in the election law relates to "the addition of the prosecutor to the executive committee of the Islamic Council elections," and the Deputy Chairman of the Council and Internal Affairs Commission of the 9th Parliament stated: "The addition of the prosecutor to the executive committee will lead to the formation of the executive committee for the Islamic Council and the Assembly of Experts together, which will greatly help in reducing costs, decisions, and speeding up elections." This newspaper also reported that the generalities of this plan were approved on Tuesday "with 109 votes in favor, 61 votes against, and 14 abstentions from a total of 213 present representatives." The Khorasan newspaper emphasized that "it seems that this plan, which implements serious changes in the election law of the Islamic Council and the Assembly of Experts, will be on the agenda for the review and approval of details on Sunday." The Etemad newspaper published the results of a poll of 100 parliament members regarding the legal fate of the "JCPOA," describing the future of this poll as a "decisive yes against a tacit no." According to this newspaper, 67% of the hundred participating representatives responded to the question of whether "if the JCPOA is presented to the parliament as a bill, what do you predict about the final opinion of the representatives in favor or against it?" stating that this bill "will be approved in parliament," while 33% said that the approval of this bill "is still uncertain." Additionally, 79% of representatives responded to the question of whether "do you consider the JCPOA an international agreement or not?" emphasizing that they consider it an "international agreement," while 21% said they do not consider the "JCPOA" an international agreement. Another question from the Etemad newspaper to one hundred parliament members asking whether "there is a need for the government to present the JCPOA in the form of a bill to the parliament?" shows that there is significant disagreement among representatives on this issue. 49% of representatives emphasized that "the government should present a bill," 22% said that "there is no need for a bill," 19% of representatives believe that "the Supreme National Security Council is a priority," and 10% of representatives stated that "more consideration is needed on this matter." Ehsan Badaghi, in the introduction of the Etemad newspaper's poll, wrote: "New nuclear disagreements after the Vienna agreement can be categorized into two main axes; first, the disagreement over the legal nature of the JCPOA and whether the agreed text is merely a work program or an international agreement," and the second "legal disagreement over the authority to address it within the country" where government critics believe the parliament should play a role, while supporters of negotiations and government officials emphasize the role of the Supreme National Security Council. The Etemad newspaper's reporter pointed out that "various factions in parliament currently have three different views on the legal nature of the JCPOA and its legal process." Some do not consider the JCPOA an agreement at all and believe that for this reason, there is no need to present it as a bill to the parliament. Another group of representatives, although legally believe that the JCPOA is more than a work program and is indeed an international agreement with all its obligations, simultaneously believe that its approval should ultimately occur through the Supreme National Security Council" and finally, "the third group, which mainly consists of critics of the government’s political rivals, emphasizes the legal aspect of the JCPOA as an international agreement and the necessity of presenting it to the parliament in the form of a bill." The Etemad newspaper, while publishing the list of names of one hundred representatives participating in this poll, categorized them into three different groups: "The first group consists of members of the principlist faction and close associates of the Stability Front, who politically have the greatest distance from the government. This group, as they were the main axis of opposition and criticism of the negotiation process in previous months, has also become the main axis of confrontation with the results of negotiations and our country's nuclear team after the Vienna agreement." According to this newspaper, "The second group, although members of the Followers faction, considered a more moderate faction in parliament, are still categorized as critics of the government in political classifications. This group may not criticize the government and its programs as harshly as the first group, but over the past two years, they have shown no serious inclination to align themselves with the supporters of the negotiations. It can be said that Mohammad Reza Bahonar is the main leader of this group in parliament" and the "third group" consists of representatives close to Ali Larijani in the Followers faction and also reformist figures in parliament, who "have spent the past two years in support of the government, especially regarding nuclear negotiations." All figures in the "third group," meaning representatives close to Ali Larijani in the Followers faction and reformist figures in parliament, emphasized in the Etemad newspaper's poll that "if the JCPOA is presented in the form of a bill to the parliament, most representatives will vote positively for it," and this response has been echoed by a significant number of representatives from the second group, namely those members of the Followers faction who are critics of the government. Among the 26 representatives close to the Stability Front and the principlist faction [close to Gholamali Haddad Adel], who are categorized as "serious critics of the government," they do not consider the approval of the potential JCPOA bill in parliament as certain. Furthermore, among the 34 representatives who do not specifically predict a positive opinion from the parliament regarding this bill, no one explicitly states that the parliament will vote negatively on the JCPOA. The Etemad newspaper wrote that "the emphasis of 66 representatives on the parliament's positive opinion" against these 34 representatives "indicates that the general opinion of the parliament can be considered positive from now on." The reflection of the potential visit of the President of the Palestinian Authority to Iran. The Iran newspaper reported on the possibility of Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, visiting Tehran, describing it as "Mahmoud Abbas's lead over Khaled Mashal." This government-affiliated newspaper wrote: "Mahmoud Abbas, the President of the Palestinian Authority, will visit Iran in the next two months. This news was announced by Ahmad Majdalani, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), who himself is leading a Palestinian delegation to Iran to submit Abbas's letter regarding the situation in the Palestinian territories to the Iranian President and to coordinate the necessary arrangements for Abbas's visit to Tehran." According to the Iran newspaper, Ahmad Majdalani, who met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on Saturday...