TEHRAN, IRAN— A conservative member of Parliament warned Iranians of “a totalitarian movement with deviant ideas”, adding the despotic and single-minded Iranian President has created the conditions for the totalitarian movement to take root.
Conservative Member of Parliament, Ahmad Tavakoli, said in an interview “due to the treason of the losers of the 2009 elections, we are now dealing with a semi-security state in which the more generous need to give more.” He added “when pressures and sanctions increase, unity once again becomes more vital.”
Tavakoli’s remarks were aimed at the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and his efforts to groom his current deputy president, Esfandiar Rahim Mashai, as his successor in the next presidential election.
The conservative MP said the President’s “despotic and single-minded approach” has fermented tensions between the executive and the legislative branches of the government. He opined that the Iranian Parliament is too accommodating toward Ahmadinejad’s government and must do more to rein in the executive branch.
Tavakoli worried about the take over of the Parliament by the totalitarian factions loyal to the President. Should this happen, the totalitarian movement will be poised to highjack the next presidential election, he warned.
However, Tavakoli stressed the Parliament is resisting the totalitarian movement and will not allow it to take hold.
He said Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has cleverly manipulated internal and foreign policies in order to advance his domestic agenda.
“There is no honor in carrying out economic plans though the arm of the ministry of intelligence,” Ahmad Tavakoli said, referring to the President’s economic policies.
Although Ahmadinejad has prepared the way for cutting across the board government subsidies, he has continued to dispense direct cash subsidies to the lower income families who are also at the core of his political support.
Some in Iran worry the cash subsidies will be used by government to buy votes in the next presidential election.
Tavakoli predicted escalating tension between the Parliament and Ahmadinejad due to the President’s unwillingness to alter his domestic agenda.