Spokesman of Iran's Guardian Council Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei announced that the next Iranian presidential election slated for June 2013 will be held electronically.

Speaking at a news conference, Kadkhodaei responded to the questions raised by reporters about a number of issues including the endorsement of the second round of parliamentary election held on May 4.
 
Earlier Iran's Interior Ministry reported that the elections were conducted electronically in 10 percent of the constituencies where about 60,000 Guardian Council supervisors and about 10,000 candidates’ representatives supervised the election. 225 lawmakers were decided in the first round of the election on March 2 and the other 65 were decided by May 5.
 
The top legislative body alreadyissued a statement saying, "Given the fact that only the Guardian Council has the responsibility to monitor the election, no individual or institution has the right to interfere in the supervision of the election,” MNA reported.
 
The Guardian Council [of the Constitution] is an appointed and constitutionally-mandated 12-member council of the Islamic Republic of Iran tasked with interpreting the Constitution of Iran, supervising elections and approving of candidates to, the Assembly of Experts, the President and the Majlis.
 
Kadkhodaei referred to the media dispute between the Majlis (parliament) and government launched after President Mahmoud wrote to Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi, the chairmen of the special council charged with settling disagreements and regulating relations between the three branches of government.
 
The letter criticizes a recently passed law which authorizes the Majlis to oversee the conduct of lawmakers believing it is discriminatory and unconstitutional. Ahmadinejad also says that the law has granted lawmakers a degree of legal immunity which constitutes discrimination between the people and their representatives.
 
However, Kadkhodaei stated that letter to Ayatollah Shahroudi was in violation of the Constitution and it is simply the responsibility of the Guardian Council to realize whether bills passed by the Majlis are against the Constitution or not.
 
"According to Article 113 of the Constitution, the President cannot send cautionary notes to the Guardian Council or the organs that are not under the three branches of government," he said.
 
Article 113 states that after Leader, president is the highest official in the country. He is responsible for implementing the Constitution and acting as the head of the executive, except in matters directly concerned with the Leadership.
 
Responding to a question, whether from the view of the Guardian Council Majlis Speaker is authorized to annul unlawful ratifications or not, Kadkhodaei asserted: "This issue is not essentially relevant to the Guardian Council."
 
 "As a matter of fact, according to Principal 138 of the Islamic Republic of Iran's Constitution all ratifications which are against the Constitution must be referred to the government for revision."
 
"Indeed, the Majlis Speaker never annuls a ratification but just states it's against the Constitution. Such statement will lead to annulment of a ratified bill, however he personally never annuls a ratification," he added.
 
Following the news conference, a reporter asked about what some call "media attack against the Guardian Council" and Kadkhodaei answered:
 
"They are trying to downgrade the status of the Council. A current problem is that the number of those who like to interfere with the responsibility of the others is increasing, but everyone must speak within the framework of his/her field."
 
On electronic election which is to be held in the next Iranian presidential poll, the Guardian Council's spokesman said: "We already adopted this method in the second round of the Majlis election [in May] and the result was fine."
 
"We were extremely sensitive to the issue as even at times transferred our concern to the staff of the Interior Ministry. However our colleagues in the Interior Ministry endured our concerns patiently and the election was held so successfully," he added.
 
The Iranian Constitution calls for the Guardian council to be composed of six Islamic faqihs (jurisprudents, expert in Islamic Law), "conscious of the present needs and the issues of the day" to be selected by the Supreme Leader of Iran.
 
Furthermore, six jurists, "specializing in different areas of law, will be elected by the Majlis from among the Muslim jurists nominated by the Head of the Judiciary Branch who in turn is also appointed by the Supreme Leader.

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News ID 181804