Iran's legislative watchdog, the, rejected on Saturday new strict rules set by parliament for presidential candidates, the official IRNA news agency reported.
In early November parliament introduced age limits and strict educational criteria into electoral law in a bid to deter frivolous runners from standing for president.
But Abbas Ali Kadkhoadi, spokesman for the hard-line vetting body said the new rules were "contradictory to the constitution." The Guardians Council reviews parliamentary decisions and interprets the constitution.
A final decision is in the hands of the top political arbitration board, the Expediency Council, which settles differences between parliament and the vetting body.
The council's move came ahead of a presidential election set for June 12 next year, when incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to seek a second four-year term. Under the amendment to the electoral law, candidates should have been aged between 40 and 75 and hold the equivalent of a master's degree from a university or seminary. The original law does not set age limits or stipulate a diploma.
Under the amendment, candidates should have already served in a national post such as president, vice-president, minister, judiciary, military or broadcasting official, or as mayor of a major city.
The 12-member Guardians Council rejected the rules even though the text remained silent on the nomination of women, something the council has always rejected. It underlined that the word "rejal" mentioned in the constitution is the plural of "rajol," Farsi for "man."
"The parliamentary approval has restricted or expanded some of the conditions for president, against the constitution," Kadkhodai said, referring to requirements that any candidates should be "rajol" and an Iranian national.
The new amendment sought to prevent frivolous applications, as for example in 2005 when a young unemployed man registered to run "to find a job" and an illiterate villager applied because he wanted "to save the country."
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Posted by: Fred ||
12/07/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
If real diplomas won't be required, perhaps they'll require fake diplomas.
Posted by: Eric Jablow ||
12/07/2008 16:24 Comments ||
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U.S. President George W. Bush said Friday that Iran's nuclear program remained a threat to peace and the United States would not allow Tehran to develop an atomic weapon.
The West has offered Iran diplomatic and economic incentives to suspend uranium enrichment and to support a civilian nuclear power program, Bush said in a speech released by the White House.
"While Iran has not accepted these offers, we have made our bottom line clear: For the safety of our people and the peace of the world, America will not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon," Bush, who leaves office January 20, said in prepared remarks.
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Posted by: Fred ||
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TEHRAN - Iran will give a tooth-breaking response to a Sunni Muslim rebel group which has killed 16 policemen it abducted in June, a senior official said in comments broadcast on Saturday.
The official IRNA news agency reported on Thursday that all the seized police had been killed, after they were taken hostage six months ago from a checkpoint in the town of Saravan in Sistan-Baluchestan province bordering Pakistan.
The mad Balochis aren't just at war with the Sindhs and Punjabis ...
Shiite-dominated Iran says the rebel Jundollah (Gods Soldiers) group, which demanded that Iranian authorities release 200 of its jailed members, has links with al Qaeda.
I'm somehow feeling short of sympathy for the Mad Mullahs, seeing as they're getting a taste of their own medicine ...
We will give a firm and tooth-breaking response to armed rebels in border areas, Iranian Prosecutor-General Qorban-Ali Dori-Najafabadi was quoted as saying by state radio, without elaborating on what action the Islamic Republic would take.
A member of parliament from Sistan-Baluchestan, Abdulaziz Jamshid-Zehi, said the bodies of the policemen had been found, the semi-official Fars News Agency reported. But he said there were 14, not 16 as said by other officials quoted by Iranian media. Officials are trying to identify the bodies found and it is as yet not clear when they were martyred, Jamshid-Zehi said.
Jundollah, which reportedly transferred the hostages to Pakistan after their abduction, had said earlier it had killed four of them.
The rebels operate mainly in Sistan-Baluchestan, home to mostly Sunni ethnic Baluchis and notorious for clashes between security forces and drug smugglers. In August 2007, Iran accused Jundollah of kidnapping 30 people in the province. The hostages, who were taken to Pakistan, were freed later by Pakistani forces.
Jundollah earlier in 2007 claimed responsibility for an attack on a bus carrying Iranian Revolutionary Guards that killed 11 people. Iran says the groups head Abdolmalek Rigi is a leader of the al Qaeda network in Iran.
In an interview in August, Rigi told Al Arabiya television that he was thinking of expanding its operations to defend the rights of Sunni Muslims in the Islamic state. Iran denies Western allegations that it discriminates against minorities.
Iran has in the past accused the United States and Britain of trying to destabilize it by supporting ethnic minority rebels operating in sensitive border areas.
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