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Constitutional Council tasked with safeguarding Islamic ordinances, Constitution: Ayatollah Khatami
A Faqih (Islamic jurist) member of Iran’s Constitutional Council said the watchdog body is primarily tasked with protecting and defending the Islamic ordinances and the Constitution.
“Safeguarding the Islamic ordinances and the Constitution as well as vetting of legislation passed by the Parliament is among the Council’s major Constitutional mandates,” Ayatollah Seyed Ahmad Khatami said on Tuesday addressing a conference in the Iranian capital Tehran.
Referring to Article 4 of the Constitution, the senior cleric said all civil, penal financial, economic, administrative, cultural, military, political, and other laws and regulations must be based on Islamic criteria.
“This principle applies absolutely and generally to all articles of the Constitution as well as to all other laws and regulations, and the Islamic jurists of the Council are judges in this matter,” he added.
Ayatollah Khatami further pointed to Article 93 of the Constitution and said, “The Parliament does not hold any legal status if there is no Constitutional Council in existence, except for the purpose of approving the credentials of its members and the election of the six jurists on the Constitutional Council”.
The senior cleric went on to add that the Constitutional Council has the responsibility of supervising the elections of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership, the President of the Republic, the Parliament, and the direct recourse to popular opinion and referenda.
For the Council, only the rule of law makes up the basis for its decisions and actions, he stressed.
Referring to the upcoming presidential vote, Ayatollah Khatami called on the nation to turn out in the June 18 elections en masse, saying this would help boost the country’s might, grandeur and immunity.
The 13th presidential election in Iran will be held simultaneously with council and midterm parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections.