| June 17, 2005 | Friday | Jumadi-ul-Awwal 9, 1426 |
Suspend all opp MPs for a smooth working
The ruling PML, it appears, was waiting for an opportunity to teach deputy opposition leader Rana Sanaullah Khan a lesson. And Rana provided the same. But will the suspension of his Punjab Assembly membership for a fortnight force him to mend his ways? Will the action stop his “pinpricks” in the future? Did the ruling party and the assembly speaker adopt the right course to tame the lawyer from Faisalabad?
TEHRAN: Iran goes to the polls on Friday facing a choice between presidential candidates of hugely different political hues after what has been the most hotly-contested campaign in the Islamic republic’s history.
Herewith are the key facts about an election that will set the tone for politics and society in the Middle East’s most populous country for the next four years.
THE PRESIDENT: He is the regime’s number two — after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. However the power of the presidency is limited, as outgoing President Mohammad Khatami found when attempts at reform were blocked by the Guardians Council, a conservative vetting body that screens all laws and candidates for public office.
THE CANDIDATES: There are seven candidates in the race, all chosen by the Guardians Council. Over 1,000 applicants were disqualified, including all the women who applied.
The Guardians Council, a grouping of 12 right-wingers directly or indirectly appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei, also disqualified reformist candidates Mostafa Moin and Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh. They were reinstated after intervention by the Supreme Leader.
THE FAVOURITE: Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who served two terms as president from 1989 to 1997, is making a political gamble by attempting a comeback. Seen as a pragmatic conservative, he has attempted to win over Iran’s political centre with a campaign that has sought to play up his caring side and dispel the widely-held belief that he has amassed a huge personal fortune.
The 70-year-old senior cleric has on numerous occasions made clear his hope of resuming ties with the United States — if Washington is prepared to make concessions to Iran. His supporters also see him as the man to revitalise Iran’s economy and prevent further international tensions over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Long the frontrunner in the race, he is now facing the prospect of a tough second round run-off against either a reformist or a hardliner where anything is possible.
THE MAIN CHALLENGERS: Mustafa Moin, a 54-year-old former higher education minister and qualified medical doctor, is heading the reformist challenge seeking again to enthuse young voters disillusioned by Khatami’s rule.
Moin has backed Iran’s suspension of nuclear activities, and has openly called for the powers of Khamenei and the Guardians Council to be scaled back. He has also called for the release of political prisoners — a category of detainee the judiciary says does not exist.
Seen initially as a lost cause, Moin’s campaign has benefited from a late charge and his supporters hope the last minute momentum will drive him into a second round where he can mount a serious challenge to Rafsanjani.
— Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, who is spearheading the hardline challenge, quit as police chief last month in order to stand and is widely seen as Khamenei’s favourite. He has made much of his occasional moonlighting as an Airbus pilot for national carrier Iran Air during the campaign.
As head of the police, even critics have credited him with sprucing up the image of the long unpopular force. However, he has come under fire over his alleged support of a violent crackdown on pro-democracy student demonstrations in 1999. Like Moin, he will be hoping to upset Rafsanjani in the second round, but it remains to be seen whether he can garner sufficient centrist support to tip the balance.
— Ultra-conservative and Tehran mayor Mahmood Ahmadinejad is seen as representing a younger generation of regime right-wingers but has failed to expand his appeal beyond his natural constituency.
— Fellow hardliner Ali Larijani is a former state broadcast boss who currently works as an adviser to Khamenei. He is the candidate of choice for traditional hardliners. Like Ahmadinejad, he has been attacked for failing to give way for a single conservative candidate.
— Mehdi Karoubi, a cleric and close ally of Khatami, was the sole reformer to win the Guardians’ approval at the first attempt. The genial former parliament speaker has earned ridicule for an election plea of free cash handouts to every citizen.
— Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh is a reformist who currently serves as one of Khatami’s vice presidents. His campaign failed to make any impression on the race.
VOTING, TURNOUT AND RESULTS: A total of 46,786,418 people — men and women above the age of 15 — are eligible to vote. There are 41,701 polling stations set up in schools, mosques and prayer halls. The time allocated for the voting is 10 hours, but this can be extended until midnight by order of the interior ministry, the body responsible for the logistics of the vote.
— The first results are expected on Saturday, with a definitive result not expected for several days. In addition, the final result must be validated by the Guardians Council.
— Turnout is expected to be just over 50 per cent, and anything less than that would be a major embarrassment for the Islamic republic after the feeble participation in 2004’s parliamentary elections.
— An unprecedented second round — to be held one or two weeks after the run off — is appearing more and more likely. In the seven previous elections in the history of the Islamic republic, the president has always been elected the first time.
CAMPAIGN THEMES: The United States: Many Iranians want to resume dialogue with the United States after a quarter century of enmity. Moin has put no conditions on a resumption of dialogue, but Rafsanjani wants to see a first gesture from the United States. Even conservatives do not categorically rule out talks.
— All the candidates are agreed that Iran has a right to enrich uranium but still want to resolve disagreements over its nuclear programme in concert with the international community.
— The substantial social liberation that has taken place under Khatami would be difficult to reverse. But where the candidates differ is on whether these reforms should draw to a halt or go further.
— Economy: Iran is dogged by high inflation and high unemployment and voters are desperate for a president who can put their economy in order.
— Reformers are demanding that Iran’s political prisoners should be released immediately, whereas Rafsanjani merely leaves the door open. Hardliners simply deny that there are political prisoners in Iran.
—AFP
These questions will take some time to find answers. But ostensibly, the ruling party will not get the desired results.
The problem started with some “unparliamentary” remarks made by Rana Sana in his Wednesday night speech in the house. They were immediately expunged by Speaker Afzal Sahi. The PML-N leader also withdrew them and apologized if they were hurtful.
In principle, the matter should have ended there. But a meeting of the PML parliamentary party was held early Thursday to decide how the ‘contemner’ be punished, rejecting his explanation that his remarks had been misunderstood. Some seasoned leaders thought that if Rana Sana was expelled from the house for two weeks, a strong message would go to his colleagues on opposition benches and none of them would then dare to use the kind of language used by the leader of the PML-N parliamentary party.
As decided by the parliamentary party, the law minister came to the house, sought suspension of the relevant rules when discussion on the cut motions was in progress, tabled a resolution against the PML-N leader, which was adopted by the treasury benches. Opposition’s protest against the move was ignored.
In a house where the ruling party enjoys a two-third majority, the adoption of the resolution was a foregone conclusion.
But the question is whether the treasury benches were at all competent to seek action against one of the opposition members. If it be assumed that it did the right thing, what would have been the situation if it had sought action against all members on the opposition benches so that the budget could be approved without any discussion or criticism.
And what would have been the status of the resolution if it had sought disqualification of various opposition members for one reason or the other? Similarly, what would have been the situation if the ‘sovereign assembly’ had proposed capital punishment for some one.
Constitutional and legal experts are in a better position to say whether the ruling party has transgressed its jurisdiction by moving the resolution against Rana Sanaullah. However, if the action taken against him is valid, then the assembly can turn into a court on any issue and pass a judgment through a resolution.
Some people say that the ruling party was very happy the day Speaker Sahi cited the example of a military horse which could not be scared away even by gunfire. Important leaders had immediately decided to take him for a ride.
This is not the first time that Rana Sana has been proceeded against. He was kidnapped in 2003 and was allegedly tortured by people he can recognize but not take a revenge on. His head and eyebrows were shaved off before he was set free at a deserted place in Faisalabad.
The torture could not change his political thinking. Instead, he criticized the government more severely in the Punjab Assembly sessions or elsewhere.
He also held the ground when the speaker had suspended over two dozen opposition legislators, including Qasim Zia, for 15 days in May 2003.
His performance in the Punjab Assembly has been appreciable, although the ruling party for obvious reasons will not agree with the observation. It would have been better if the speaker had used his own powers to settle the matter (as he did in the case of Rana Mashood) rather than allowing the resolution which has set a bad precedent.
Now the PML-N, the PPP and the MMA leaders are thinking about adopting a joint strategy in the house. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Chaudhry Pervaiz Elahi is right in his assertion that nobody should use ‘vulgar’ language in the house nor anyone should take the house as a hostage. Also, nobody should cross the limits.