Iran Press/Iran news: In an exclusive interview with Iran Press News Agency, Iranian MP Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi elaborated on Iran's Parliament as a legislative body in the country and the future presidential election.
Iran Press: As the Deputy Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, what is the importance and position of this legislative body in Iran?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: Iranian Parliament is the main body for legislation and supervising the Islamic Republic of Iran's politics.
The parliament legislates rules for the country's relations, including three branches of government, and also plays a major role in monitoring the mechanism of governance, as Imam Khomeini stressed that the Parliament is above all affairs.
Another point to discuss is justice, the combination of MPs from various constituencies, ethnicities, and religions of the country is aiming at regulation and governing the country in order to prevent injustice among any gender, ethnicity, or religion. That is why if the government wants to spend a budget or has a bill, it should be approved by the parliament.
The parliament has a Board of Confirmation of Approvals and Regulations with Laws, which can annul government directives and if a violation committed by the government, can abolish the circulation. Although the parliament has a very strong position, it has not succeeded as such in using its power well and providing sufficient tools for its implementation.
Iran Press: The economic issues and people's livelihood is one of the main concerns of the country. Would you please explain the strategies and plans of the current parliament to solve the economic problems?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: Thinking or planning solely does not solve the country's problems either by the government or the parliament, therefore both must reach a common solution.
Right now to solve the country's issues and problems, the government and the parliament have different points of view.
One part is how to support production and the other how to regulate the market, as well as addressing the livelihood of vulnerable people and controlling the country's liquidity. We see two different ways of management when we say parliament means the majority of MPs and there may be disagreement among them but the one that runs the government has a view of globalization in politics and economics, there is both contradiction and lack of planning between the government and parliament while the government has no clear plan to coordinate with the parliament.
The parliament's actions are only soothing the present tough conditions.
To do strategic work, three branches must reach a common consensus but the final decision-maker is the parliament, since the executive branch is the government, naturally, strategic tasks must be present to the parliament.
Iran Press: What steps have the parliament taken in the economic field in the domestic and foreign areas to strengthen the country against sanctions in the year “Surge in Production”?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: The parliament works in this regard at two levels; one is to reform economic institutions, including the tax system and helping production units. And the other is to take care of people's livelihood, for example, housing plan, livelihood plan, and tax plan for vacant houses and such plans can be analyzed and considered at two levels.
Iran Press: JCPOA is an agreement which was signed among all parties, now one of the parties has left, while the continuation of negotiation has raised in some circles. How long can these rounds of negotiations last, if the agreement is not implemented?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: JCPOA is an international agreement which is only observed by the Iranian side, even our friends including China or Russia did not support us as much as we expected. Europe did not help us at all and the US left JCPOA completely, we are not optimistic about JCPOA and the US’ return to this agreement.
Iran should pin hope to these agreements and their implementations. Incoming US president Joe Biden or any other president in the United States has an opinion to say. Iran has many and powerful tools, a great country, technological manpower, mines, natural and financial resources, and neighboring countries that can build the country's economy and its growth.
Iran is at the crossroad of the world and is a country that cannot be restricted, and if we trust people and give them responsibilities, we will get the right results. We trusted people in providing security, protecting the country's borders, cultural issues, and we reached the conclusion that in the field of economy and management of the country if we trust the people, we will succeed.
The enemies of Iran commit any crime, they assassinated the highest military person of the country and they want to return to what they themselves have left the and then we resume negotiations with them, it has nothing except humiliating the nation and destroying Iran's dignity.
One of the reasons that the Arab countries in the south of the Persian Gulf stood against Iran was our behavior in JCPOA since we broke the authority of the Iranian people and it caused a change in their behavior to establish relations with Israel obviously.
Iran Press: It is the last months of President Rouhani's government and the discussions over the 2021 presidential election have begun. Will you run as a candidate in the presidential election? What about Speaker of the Parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf Ghalibaf and Chief of the Judiciary Raisi? What is your opinion about the presence of the heads of branches in the election?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: At present, the heads of branches have important tasks do, and if we are to serve the people, we must do our own responsibilities, and people do not expect us to get involved in other issues. Any step taken by politicians is defined as political behavior, in this case, the political competitors take an action against them to achieve their political goal. The nomination of some candidates for the presidency in 2021 has been used as an excuse to allow some people to halt the work of the parliament, and these issues should not be raised in the media.
Anyway, a number of politicians and clerics in the country will be introduced after the registration and approval of the Guardian Council. At present, everyone must take responsibility. We have important economic issues and economic issues in people's lives. And people do not expect us to speculate and make such issues and analyze them in the current situation. Considering the present economic problems, there is no time to address the issues of the 2021 presidential election.
Our country has many well-known persons to serve the people. The principle in the Islamic government is not accepting responsibility and if there are not enough people, qualified ones should accept responsibilities. If they are competent people, there is no need for other officials to run for the presidency, but if there is no right person, these people must attend to serve people.
Depending on the country’s condition, one must see whether he has the authority to accept this responsibility to solve the problems of the country, including the plans, individuals to run the posts, and the political consensus.
Iran Press: How do you evaluate the political arrangement of the 2021 election and what are your predictions for the main nominees of the "Principlist" and "Reformist" parties in the coming election?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: There will be different currents in the upcoming presidential election. We have two traditional currents: reformist and principlist; Other parties, such as the reformist moderate movement and the independent movement, are neither affiliated with the principlists nor the reformists.
Many names have been mentioned for the presidential race and this issue gives hope that our country has top men for the presidency at this level.
On the other hand, there is criticism why we do not have a mechanism that can coordinate this and we do not have an organization to support these people, to evaluate the candidate’s background if they want to run the country.
Iran Press: There have been discussions about the participation of military men to run for the upcoming presidential election as well as a female candidate. What is your personal opinion on this issue?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: The main criterion for a presidential candidate is to be competent. Being competent has nothing to do with gender or occupation or being a military man. The individual and his team must have a clear competence and a definite plan to run the country, as well as a vision for the future of the country and international relations, around Iran and ethnicities, the population, capacities, and capabilities of the country.
A person who becomes a presidential candidate must have an effective executive team to run the country and take care of the people's affairs. Anyone with these qualifications, a judge, a cleric, or a military man, can apply for the presidency.
Those who are against the Islamic Revelation are trying to polarize the country, and Iranian must be careful not to be fallen into this trap.
Iran Press: How do you predict the next year’s presidential election and which party has a better chance to win?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: The high turnout in the 2021 presidential election will be expected. We went through a difficult period, and the people will have serious participation in the election in order to end this difficult period.
People demand comprehensive, fundamental, and revolutionary changes, that is, they do not want the current economic and social conditions. And those who have failed their test during this period no longer have a chance to win the election.
Also, the problem of the people will not be solved if Biden comes to power or we just focus on international relations, and those who think that the situation will get better when Biden comes to the power are in miscalculation. The problem is the laziness, tiredness of government officials, and not having a plan.
We hope that an intelligent, wise, expert, elite person, aware of the people's problems and the deprived and women and youth, with a clear plan to reform economic and livelihood affairs and with the aim of expanding justice, to win the presidency with a diligent spirit so that he can solve the country's problems.
Iran Press: If you become a candidate in the presidential election and win the election, you have a definite plan for that?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: The Islamic system is based on invitation, not on volunteering. Which wise man says he will burden the responsibility of 80 million people? On the other hand, we have to evaluate who is suitable for the presidency to be invited. If one accepts this responsibility, one must be competent. According to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution’s remarks, in the Islamic government, the principle is not to accept responsibility, if the person is invited, he must see if he or she is qualified or not.
In the case of parliamentary representation, the competence is with the individual, but in the case of the presidency, it is not an individual competence. One can say that a presidential candidate is competent if he knows the country well, and both have a plan and a team that can hand over the country to them. If anyone proceeds without considering these issues, he has betrayed the country and the people.
One of the problems our presidents have had so far was that they were not ready to become president. First, they participated in the elections and after the victory, they thought about what to do or to whom to give responsibility.
We hope that people will pay attention to these issues in electing the president and will vote for the right president, not for the reputation or being well-known. Fame and prestige are not signs of a person's eligibility for a presidential candidate.
Iran Press: Considering the current situation of the country and also the participation of 42% of the people in the parliamentary elections, in your opinion, do people welcome the 2021 presidential elections?
Ghazizadeh Hashemi: People's view about the presidential election is different from the parliament, because the main part of the country is governed by the government, and the administration of the government and the way the government is arranged is with the president. We elect the president publicly and he speaks in direct debates with the people. Another point is that the atmosphere of the society is ready for a comprehensive change and people are present for this change to take place, otherwise they are worried that the problems will be repeated.
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