iran unfiltered

A potentially big development: a plan is to be introduced today in the Expediency Council, a body that holds supervisory powers over the three branches of government, that would eliminate the Guardian Council's power to vet candidates for the presidency and Majles, which (at least until last June's blatant vote-rigging) has been the regime's main tool for exercising control over elections. 

The proposal is being pushed by three prominent figures in the Expediency Council: its current head Ali-Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mohsen Rezaee (the former Revolutionary Guard commander and presidential candidate last year), and Hassan Rowhani (the moderate cleric who was Iran's chief nuclear negotiator under Mohammad Khatami).  It calls for the Guardian Council's vetting role to be given to a new Elections Committee, which would be under the supervision of the Expediency Council.  The Guardian Council would be left with the worthless consolation prize of having one of its members serve on the Elections Committee, and even then only in a non-voting capacity.

One fascinating aspect of this story is that it has been leaked not by the proposal's backers, but rather by its opponents: the ultra-hardline Kayhan and its chief editor Hossein Shariatmadari, who is clearly trying to take the initiative by attacking the plan even before it has been formally announced.  Stay tuned.