DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Iran’s supreme chief on Tuesday dominated out the holding of fashionable referendums on state insurance policies.
Iran confronted requires a referendum on the Islamic Republic itself throughout anti-government protests final yr, and a average former president just lately steered such votes ought to be held to determine main insurance policies as a manner of decreasing divisions.
Supreme Chief Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the ultimate say over such insurance policies, rejected the thought when requested about it throughout a gathering with college college students.
“The place on this planet is that this completed? Is it doable to carry a referendum for varied problems with the nation?” he requested. “For any single problem, the nation could be engaged in debate and arguments and polarization for six months, so {that a} referendum could be held on that problem.”
He seemed to be referring to current remarks by former President Hassan Rouhani, a relative average, who had steered holding referendums on home and overseas insurance policies.
Iran holds common presidential and parliamentary elections overseen by clerical our bodies that vet candidates. Below the structure, a referendum is just doable if two-thirds of parliament votes for it and a 12-member constitutional physique — half of whom are appointed by the supreme chief — approves.
Iran noticed months of nationwide anti-government protests sparked by the loss of life in September of a 22-year-old lady who was detained by the morality police for allegedly violating the nation’s strict Islamic gown code. The protests quickly escalated into requires the overthrow of the ruling clerics, marking a serious problem to their four-decade rule.
The protests died down earlier this yr amid a violent crackdown by authorities, although there are lingering indicators of discontent.
Iran held referendums to ascertain an Islamic Republic and approve a brand new structure shortly after the 1979 revolution. It held one other referendum within the late Eighties to amend the structure.