Moving Iran's Elections

Iran's Presidential elections are likely to be moved up to this fall:

"Iran's parliament voted on April 22 to hold the next presidential and parliamentary elections together, later this year, thus extending parliament's current term by seventh months and shortening the government's term, Iranian media reported. The decision -- which some politicians say is unconstitutional -- must be ratified by the Guardians Council, a body of senior jurists. The council rejected as unconstitutional a previous parliamentary proposal to hold the elections concurrently, but parliament has apparently voted to reconfirm its earlier proposal. This could lead to a stand-off that might have to be resolved by the Expediency Council, a political arbitrating body. The constitution has set the length of parliamentary and presidential terms at four years. The April 22 vote foresees simultaneous elections for the eighth parliament and ninth president since Iran's 1979 revolution in late October to early November 2007, 'Aftab-i Yazd' reported on April 23."

With support in Iran's conservative Parliament this solid, I suspect the changes will go through one way or the other. This is also not the result of opposition to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and has been under discussion for awhile. However, given his current popularity problems, he would have a tough time winning new elections this soon.

(Crossposted to American Footprints)