The cultural adviser to the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) recently raised the idea of a significant reform in the executive structure of the Islamic Republic: the abolition of the presidency and the reinstatement of a prime minister position. Mohammad Hossein Saffar Harandi said that under such a change, the Iranian parliament would then exercise the authority to remove and replace the head of the government at its discretion and expediency at any moment it finds such a figure unfit to rule.
This was not the first time a transition from the presidential system into a parliamentary one has been brought up by the Islamic Republic's political elite. In October 2011, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei spoke of a distant future when such a change might take place. However, no steps were taken toward implementing the plan. Now, Saffar Harandi's suggestion comes as a significant part in a continuum of comments from IRGC commanders who have been disappointed in the results of the last two presidential elections, which first brought Hassan Rouhani into office and then kept him there.
In a debate broadcast on state TV March 19, Saffar Harandi said the head of the government needs to be appointed by an institution "such as the parliament" that enjoys the powers to "hold him accountable on a daily basis" and "whenever lawmakers find him unfit, they could appoint another person of their choice." The comments expressed open dissatisfaction with Rouhani's performance and, more importantly, showed how Iran's ultraconservatives are seeking to unseat any administration they deem opposed to their own political line.
Those remarks coincided with state-funded Soroush Magazine's interview with IRGC commander Maj. Gen. Mohammad Ali Jafari, where he directly blamed "the choice made by the people" in the presidential election for the current economic woes. Without naming Rouhani, the IRGC commander said today's "problems are not any one [person]'s fault. It’s the people who should have made the right choice. They are the ones who need to act with watchfulness."
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