Seraphim
07-12-2003, 03:42 AM
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030712/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_khatami&cid=540&ncid=716
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mohammad Khatami said in a speech he would resign if people want him to, amid growing public dissatisfaction over his failure to meet promises of democratic reform, a newspaper reported Saturday.
It was the first time Khatami has publicly offered to resign. Iran's formerly popular president has come under increasing pressure in recent months to stand firm against unelected hard-line clerics and fulfill election promises of freedoms and democratic change in Iran.
"We are not masters of people but servants of this nation. If this nation says we don't want you, we will go," Khatami was quoted as saying by the government-owned daily, Iran.
Khatami made the comments in a speech in Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, on Thursday. State-run television and radio censored the part that discussed a possible resignation.
Khatami's hopes for a compromise with hard-liners have been thwarted in recent weeks after the Guardian Council, which vets all parliamentary legislation, rejected two key reform bills presented by the president.
Those bills would have given Khatami greater power to stop constitutional violations by his hard-line opponents and bar the Guardian Council from arbitrarily disqualifying candidates in legislative and presidential elections.
"We have to approve the qualifications of various candidates. If the people feel the program they vote for meets obstacles, then they will not participate in the elections," Iran quoted Khatami as saying.
Khatami has repeated during recent years that he was powerless to stop hard-liners from violating the constitution and acting against voted reforms.
Among those violations, he has cited the closure of more than 90 pro-democracy publications in the past three years, the arrest of dozens of prominent intellectuals and writers and closed trials without jury.
Khatami has said he was responsible under the constitution to stop such violations, but the hard-line judiciary has ignored his warnings.
By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer
TEHRAN, Iran - President Mohammad Khatami said in a speech he would resign if people want him to, amid growing public dissatisfaction over his failure to meet promises of democratic reform, a newspaper reported Saturday.
It was the first time Khatami has publicly offered to resign. Iran's formerly popular president has come under increasing pressure in recent months to stand firm against unelected hard-line clerics and fulfill election promises of freedoms and democratic change in Iran.
"We are not masters of people but servants of this nation. If this nation says we don't want you, we will go," Khatami was quoted as saying by the government-owned daily, Iran.
Khatami made the comments in a speech in Karaj, west of the capital Tehran, on Thursday. State-run television and radio censored the part that discussed a possible resignation.
Khatami's hopes for a compromise with hard-liners have been thwarted in recent weeks after the Guardian Council, which vets all parliamentary legislation, rejected two key reform bills presented by the president.
Those bills would have given Khatami greater power to stop constitutional violations by his hard-line opponents and bar the Guardian Council from arbitrarily disqualifying candidates in legislative and presidential elections.
"We have to approve the qualifications of various candidates. If the people feel the program they vote for meets obstacles, then they will not participate in the elections," Iran quoted Khatami as saying.
Khatami has repeated during recent years that he was powerless to stop hard-liners from violating the constitution and acting against voted reforms.
Among those violations, he has cited the closure of more than 90 pro-democracy publications in the past three years, the arrest of dozens of prominent intellectuals and writers and closed trials without jury.
Khatami has said he was responsible under the constitution to stop such violations, but the hard-line judiciary has ignored his warnings.