country’s Fifth Development Plan, which was supposed to have been in place seven months ago at Now Ruz.
The Majlis voted to take up the bill on a vote of 131 to 44 with 17 abstentions.
The no votes were prompted by the strong opposition of Ahmad Tavakkoli, the director of the Majlis Research Center and a longtime critic of the economic policies of the Ahmadi-nejad Administration. Tavakkoli argued that the draft plan was badly flawed and should be sent back to the president to be rewritten from scratch.
The five-year plan has been reviewed and approved by a Majlis committee. The Majlis Presiding Board said the plan would be debated in the full chamber for an anticipated two months.
The Ahmadi-nejad Administration failed to deliver the draft on time, leaving the legislature little time to review it before Now Ruz. Deputies, feeling they were being rushed by the president, refused to respond to his whip. They didn’t even take up the plan before Now Ruz, instead just extending the Fourth Plan for another year.
Tavakkoli said the draft plan was unworkable because it was not coordinated with the program to eliminate subsidies over the next five years.
Deputy Nasrollah Kamalian was even harsher in his criticism. He mocked the plan, saying, “It begins from an indefinite starting point and heads toward an unclear destination.”