So far, in the English language, only Ynet (see below) and the Jerusalem Post (at <http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1164881810001&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull>) have reported on this. A translation of the Fars News Agency dispatch on which the story is based follows. -- Yoshie
<blockquote><http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3335628,00.html> Iran: Parliament shortens Ahmadinejad's term Vast majority of Iranian lawmakers vote to move up presidential elections by 18 months, final say on matter up to Ahmadinejad's arch-rival Dudi Cohen Will Ahmadinejad's term be cut short? The Iranian parliament voted on Sunday to unite the presidential elections with the upcoming parliamentary ones, this according to the official Iranian news agency. The proposal, which passed with a surprising 80 percent majority, may cut the term of sitting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by 18 months. The bill must still be ratified by the Iranian constitutional committee, which is headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad's arch-rival, a fact which many see as indicative that the bill will indeed be authorized. Rafsanjani himself is considered one of the most powerful politicians in Iran and is currently running for a position in the Assembly of Experts, an 86-strong body of ayatollahs who monitor the Iranian Supreme Leader (a position currently held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei). The Assembly has the power to dismiss the Supreme Leader. Already existing tensions have heightened between Ahmadinejad and Rafsanjani as the latter is pitted directly against Ahmadinejad's spiritual mentor Masbah Yazdi who is also vying for a spot on the Assembly of Experts. One of the reasons cited in the proposal for bringing the two elections together is cutting the costs brought on by a double election. Opponents to the bill claimed that cutting the president's term is unconstitutional and that parliament's term should be extended to meet the original date for the presidential election.</blockquote> <blockquote>Iran's Parliament Approves Urgency Tag For Simultaneous Elections Bill Fars News Agency (Internet Version-WWW) Sunday, December 3, 2006 T10:50:25Z Journal Code: 9113 Language: ENGLISH Record Type: FULLTEXT Document Type: OSC Translated Text Word Count: 273 Tehran, 3 December: The Majlis MPs have voted in favour of urgency tag for a bill on simultaneous holding of the 10th presidential and the 8th Majlis elections. According to the Fars News Agency, The Majlis reviewed the urgency tag for a bill on simultaneous holding of the 10th presidential and the 8th Majlis elections at its open session today, Sunday (3 December). The urgency tag for the bill was approved by 153 votes in favour, 20 against and 10 abstained out of 184 votes and 206 Majlis representatives present. Yusefian-Mola, MP from Amol, who is one of the initiators of this bill said on the urgency of the bill: The time laps between the Majlis and presidential elections is one year and the MPs start their term when there is only one year left of the presidential term. This gap causes weakness in the supervisory duties of the Majlis. The MP from Amol added: By holding simultaneous elections some of the existing peripheral problems resulting from the process of elections will be reduced to a minimum. (Description of Source: Tehran Fars News Agency (Internet Version-WWW) in Persian -- (Khabargozari-ye Fars) is a privately-owned news agency. It began operating in mid November 2002. Its managing editor is Mehdi Faza'eli, the editor in chief of the Javan daily and a member of the managerial board of the Association of Muslim Journalists. The other members of the board of directors of the news agency, are Alizera Shemirani, of Farda newspaper, Abdollah Moqaddam and Akbar Nabavi of Resalat newspaper, the former director of Farabi Foundation Hasan Eslami-Mehr, and university professor Abolhoseyn Ruholamin.) Compiled and distributed by NTIS, US Dept. of Commerce. All rights reserved. -- Yoshie <http://montages.blogspot.com/> <http://mrzine.org> <http://monthlyreview.org/>
