Iranian MP Ali Motahari has slammed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and called for his immediate resignation.
Motahari, a staunch critic of the Ahmadinejad administration who did not get a chance to deliver his speech in Parliament yesterday, released the text of his speech to the media today.
In it, Motahari accuses Ahmadinejad of “despotism” and “dictatorship”, saying: “In his latest television interview, the president said ‘I will sign and implement a law that I feel corresponds to the constitution; if I decide that a law does not correspond with the constitution, I will not sign or execute it.' This is despotism and dictatorship and torpedoing the Parliament.”
The conservative Member of Parliament went on to add: “Such an individual should not be in power for even one more day. It is not wise to say we should just let his term come to an end because he is an adventuresome individual and has sensitive files under his arm.”
Ali Motahari stressed that the crisis in the foreign currency market was more a result of the “inappropriate actions of the government in implementation of government subsidy restructuring” than the Western economic sanctions.
Motahari stressed that the administration has not followed through with a good deal of Parliament’s legislation and instead has chosen to pick fights with Parliament.
Government subsidies for energy and food staples were cut by the Ahmadinejad administration and replaced with cash benefits distributed to households in order to cushion them from rising prices.
In recent years, Ahmadinejad has gotten into many disputes with Parliament over a number of issues, including the delivery of funds for the Tehran metro and the appointment of his ally, Saeed Mortazavi, to the Social Security Fund.
