This year, the president looks likely to set a new record for lack of punctuality. If the budget hasn’t arrived at the Majlis by Friday, January 28, Ahmadi-nejad will have beaten his own record for tardiness.
The Majlis Presiding Board on Sunday asked the president to get moving with the budget.
Many in the Majlis think Ahmadi-nejad intentionally holds up the budget so the Majlis doesn’t have the time to look at the president’s requests in any detail.
Ahmadi-nejad has been from one to two months late in submitting the budget every year. The best he has done has been to deliver the budget 32 days late three years ago. Two years ago, he set his current record when he was 53 days late, the daily Jam-e Jam reported.
Going back two months, there has been no shortage of deputies raising the issue on the floor of the Majlis and taking potshots at the president.
In mid-December, Deputy Mohammad-Reza Bahonar told the chamber he had met one of Ahmadi-nejad’s aides and been told the budget would be delivered by December 21. More than a month has passed since that promised delivery with no budget in sight.
