In November, the Majlis voted to change the membership of the Central Bank’s General Assembly by adding seven experienced economists, the head of the Commerce, Mining and Industry Bureau and the prosecutor general while dropping the president. The legislation would also revoke the president’s ability to appoint and dismiss the bank’s governor. Other current members of the General Assembly, such as the minister of economics, vice president for planning and minister of commerce would remain.
The legislation got a great deal of public attention as the latest chapter in the ongoing feud between the Majlis and President Ahmadi-nejad.
The Guardian Council, whose responsibility it is to determine whether the laws the Majlis passes are constitutional and in line with Islamic principles, announced that it had vetoed the bill. It said the inclusion of the economists was unconstitutional, but it found no fault with the removal of the president.
A government body must only consist of individuals from within the three branches of government, the 12-man Council said. Thus, the participation of private sector economists would be unconstitutional, Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai explained.
Ali Larijani, speaker of the Majlis, noted that economists to be appointed do not have to be from the private sector and could easily come from government employees.
Critics of the president are not the sole supporters of the legislation. Many economists say the Central Bank has long been plagued by government interference. Unlike most Western Central Banks, the bank in Iran is not an independent institution—as the presence of the president as both a member of the bank’s governing body and its chairman makes very clear.
The vetoed legislation has been sent back to the Majlis, which has the option of re-enacting it with an addition banning the appointment of private sector economists to meet the concerns of the Council of Guardians.
