—but there was always a large base of deputies disgusted by the president.
The major issue before the latest surge of hostility was the trend of the executive branch to ignore the legislative branch and try to bypass it. Most prominent has been the practice of the Ahmadi-nejad Administration of simply ignoring laws it does not like.
The anger with Ahmadi-nejad and his independent ways is nothing new at all, but and is clearly gathering steam—although whether it ever goes beyond the muttering stage remains to be seen.
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has often been critical of Ahmadi-nejad. Larijani lost to Ahmadi-nejad in the 2005 presidential election and the two men have never been friendly. Larijani has on at least one occasion written the Supreme Leader to complain about Ahmadi-nejad’s conduct when the president ignored a piece of legislation.
The Supreme Leader last year issued a directive saying the executive branch must carry out all legislation passed by the Majlis and approved by the Council of Guardians. But legislators complain that Ahmadi-nejad still ignores legislation of which he disapproves, often saying a law is so badly written that it cannot be executed.
Another long-time activist in the anti-Ahmadi-nejad Majlis group is Deputy Ahmad Tavak-koli. He wrote a letter to Ahmadi-nejad a year ago saying the Majlis would not remain quiet forever in the face of the Administration’s “law-breaking.”
“The president should not think that the Majlis will deal cautiously with the Adminis-tration’s unlawful actions forever,” said Tavakkoli, who is known for his criticism of the administration’s economic policies. “Our caution is due to political considerations, but deputies will [eventually] run out of patience.”
Those “political considerations” appeared to be cautions from Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi against internal conflict and repeated demands for unity.
Tavakkoli’s letter last year was prompted by the Adminis-tration’s decision to reduce working hours during Ramadan and declare the day after Eid-e Fetr a holiday without action by the Majlis.
“Based on what authority did you declare Saturday a holiday? According to the law, only the Majlis has the right to designate a holiday,” he said.
He noted that the Majlis decided not to declare the day a holiday, but the president went ahead and acted on his own, ignoring both the law and the repercussions of his decision on the country’s economy.
“What message is conveyed to the society? Is undermining the Majlis and mocking its decision consistent with the oath you have taken to safeguard the Constitution?” Tavakkoli asked then.
Tavakkoli also said that even though the Supreme Leader had advised the Administration against setting up duplicative powers in the area of foreign policy, the president did not obey the Leader’s directive and did not dismiss the special regional envoys the president named last summer.
The Supreme Leader and then-Foreign Minister Manou-chehr Mottaki both gently criticized the appointments as crossing lines with the work of the Foreign Ministry.
Another source of friction was the long-overdue Fifth Five-Year Development Plan, which was supposed to take effect at Now Ruz in 2010. The Administration submitted the draft months late. The Majlis then approved several changes in it and Ahmadi-nejad threw a tantrum, demanding that the Majlis stop its action and send the draft back to the Executive Branch.