According to Khabar Online's Majlis correspondent, on Wednesday, March 14, when Ahmadinejad gave unsatisfactory answers to the lawmakers who questioned his performance in the last years, he could not think that his sarcastic language and impudent approach would lead the parliament to amend the related procedural guidelines. His conduct at the session provoked the anger and resentment of some parliamentarians.
The eminent lawmaker Ali Mottahari, the mastermind of the plan for questioning the President also played a central role in the process of amending the related rules by Majlis. He proposed a two-starred bill which received final ratification on April 21.
Based on the new act of the parliament, a month after receiving the questions, Iranian President must attend an open session of the Majlis to respond to the MPs questions. However he can avoid coming on the exact time if only presents a justified excuse acceptable by the legislature.
The lawmakers would raise their questions in at most 30 minutes and the president would have an hour to answer them. Both parties would be able to divide their time in two sections. On that condition all questions and answers would be propounded in the first section and in the second the parliamentarians would ask the president to remove ambiguities of his answers.
In the next stage, the lawmakers would vote individually to define whether the President's replies have been convincing or not. If the attended parliamentarians are not satisfied with the answers and the response of the president contradicts the law or he refuses to execute a law, the questions would be sent to the Judiciary Branch.
Furthermore, if the number of questions received by the Judiciary Branch reaches to 6, the plan for the interpellation of the President will be set on the agenda of the Majlis with respect to the contents of the principle 89 in the Islamic Republic of Iran's constitution.
Ahmadinejad is the first president in the Islamic Republic's history who is called before the legislature which has the power to interpellate him if receives unsatisfied answers.
Based on the article 2 of principle 89 of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Constitution, if at least one third of parliament members (97 out of 290) decide to interpellate the President as the head of the executive body of the country, he will be duty bound to attend the floor of Majlis within a month to respond.
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