According to Khabar Online political correspondent, Bahonar who headed the Majlis in the absence of Parliament Speaker, Ali Larijani on Tuesday stated that the plan for questioning the president has been discussed in local circles and reflected in media.
"We have always stressed that we will act based on the procedural guidelines and for this reason the act of questioning President was referred to the committees of Majlis," He asserted.
Vice-Speaker of Majlis further said that based on clause 196 of the procedural guideline of Majlis. If after one week, one fourth of the lawmakers were not persuaded by the answers given by the President's envoys, the President himself will be summoned to the floor of Majlis.
"According to a letter submitted to the presiding board of Majlis on Wednesday, February 1, the questioning lawmakers have announced that they were not persuaded and have asked for the president to attend an open session of the parliament,” he said.
“This would be necessary for boosting mutual understanding between the Majlis and the government", the senior lawmaker noted.
Based on the Article 88 of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Constitution, the president must attend the floor of Majlis in a month after being summoned, "Through a coordination with the government, God willing, the president will attend the floor of Majlis in early March and will respond to the questions raised by the MPs," Bahonar added.
The issue of questioning the president was proposed in June, 2011 when almost 100 lawmakers signed a relevant petition to follow the further steps. Based on the Islamic Republic of Iran's Constitution, the measure to question the president should be signed by at least one fourth of the Majlis members (73 out of 290) to be proceeded.
The petition was then submitted to the presiding board of Majlis which agreed to pursue the case. The questions are supposed to be asked by six committees of Majlis on ten issues. At that time, the members of the Majlis requested the president to either attend the Majlis or send his representatives
National security and foreign policy commission had decided to summon Ahmadinejad to explain the reasons behind his controversial dismissal of Minister of Intelligence Heydar Moslehi which was against the will of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The summons is the first of its kind for a president of the Islamic Republic of Iran since it was founded in 1979.
Even in earlier months, several lawmakers had criticized the administration for violating 50 articles of the Constitution. The complaints led to calls for querying about reasons behind the delay in introducing the Minister of Sports and Youth for the newly established ministry.
The other criticisms include delay in allocating funds to the Metro of Tehran, raising questions about foreign and domestic policy decisions, unprofessional conduct of the nation's economy in a critical time and limping economic growth of the country, as well as measures adopted by the government in putting the ratified cultural plans into practice.
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