Political Realignments in the Majlis After Removal of Minister
With the parliament’s dismissal of Iran’s minister of science, Reza Farajidana, there are fresh conversations about changes to take place in the alignments of Majlis factions. While the formal formation of a parliamentary faction in the Majlis comprising of MPs that support Hassan Rouhani’s administration was agreed to be postponed earlier this year, the forceful dismissal of Rouhani’s minister has again raised the possibility of defections from the factions and a realignment of forces in the assembly.
Ibrahim Nikoo, the MP who had in recent months been pursuing efforts to form the pro-administration faction has said, “If the Rahrovan Velayat ( Followers of the Leader ) coalition decides to support Majlis’s summon and vote of confidence on the minister of science, we shall depart from the group and shall immediately form the Moderation faction.”
Nikoo who is currently a member of the Rahrovan Principlist faction in the Majlis told Tasnim news agency affiliated with the Revolutionary Guards, “The behavior of some Rahrovan leaders is hurtful to some other members of the coalition, particularly those who desire a Moderation faction.” He continued, “We recognize the right that representatives have to summon and vote on officials but do not support this effort. We do not expect the spokesperson of the Rahrovan faction to say that they will not engage in efforts to withdraw the summon.”
These remarks were made at the same time that Kazem Jalali, the head of the Rahrovan faction whose members hold the majority of seats in the Majlis announced that he had met with the troubled cabinet minister, Reza Farajidana. While he did not reveal the contents of his meeting he did say that he would announce his views prior to the summon of and vote on the minister.
At the same time, Nikoo said that he had not heard the views of the speaker of parliament, Ali Larijani who has influential over the Rahrovan faction on the issue, but added that it appeared that he was not against the summon because if he was he would have declared it. He said other representatives had joined to support the summon because the minister had not fulfilled the pledges he had made to the Majlis.
Another MP Alireza Zakani also has said that if the summon went ahead a new pro-government faction would take shape in the parliament. “A special and unique aspect of this summon is the pressure that is applied from outside to reverse the summon. The Moderation faction is pressuring and threatening the Rahrovan faction, something that is heard in tweets.”
The Current Line Up in the Majlis
The Majlis today has two main factions, Principlists and Principlist Followers of the Leader (the Rahrovan the Rahrovan). The Rahrovan faction, led by Majlis speaker Ali Larijani and Kazem Jalali, has the majority of seats in parliament. The Principlist faction is led by Gholam Ali Hadad Adel and forms the minority faction.
In the first two years of the current session of the Majlis, which coincided with Ahmadinejad’s last two years in office, the Principlist faction remained loyal to the administration even though it did at times raise some criticism. The Rahrovan on the other hand remained a staunch critic of the administration.
But after last year’s presidential election the Rahrovan leadership and the rank and file of the faction took a friendlier position towards Hassan Rouhani. The Principlists on the other hand who are mostly former Revolutionary Guard members and from security or military organizations, and the Steadfast Front (comprising some hard core hardliners), took a position of opposing Rouhani’s administration. They regularly and loudly voice their criticism over Rouhani administration’s policies.
There is also a large number of Majlis representatives who actually belong to both the factions. This has created splits within each faction over the issue of summoning Rouhani’s minister of science and passing a vote of confidence on him. It is because of this situation that the talk about forming a new alliance to support the administration is heating up.
While this is not a new idea, earlier this year in January Nikoo told Fars news agency, belonging to the Revolutionary Guards, that a group of Rahrovan faction members were in the process of forming a new faction to support Rouhani’s administration. He later said there were some 140 members who would announce their membership in the new faction after the March 21 Nowruz recess.
Another MP Abed Fatahi had also spoken of the formation of a new pro-administration faction but he put the number of supporters to 70 Principlists. He also announced that the group had delayed its formal announcement because of Speaker Larijani, because most of its members would come from the Rahrovan (led by Larijani).
Earlier this year as the time for fresh elections for the leadership of the Majlis approached, pro-administration deputies announced that they were postponing the formation of the new faction, which they referred to as the Moderation faction, out of concern that the move could result in Larijani losing his wide support as the leader of the Majlis who supports the administration.
Now that Rouhani’s minister of science has been voted out of his position, the 200 member Rahrovan is certain to push ahead with its new pro-administration faction.
