Supreme Leader: Iran may turn into parliamentary republic

If the parliamentary system works efficiently, Iran may be changed from the country with the current presidential form of government into the parliamentary republic headed by a prime-minister, Mehr News Agency quoted Supreme Leader Ayatolla Seyyed Ali Khamenei as saying.

Khamenei was addressing the university students in Kermanshah province, west Iran, on Sunday. However, any change must be based on Islamic principles and the Iranian system can be changed only in conformity with the values of the 1979 Islamic Revolution and the Constitution, Khamenei added.

"The future possible changes may keep the Islamic system eternally young," he said.

Earlier, in September, the member of the Parliament Hamidrza Katuzian said one parliamentary group considers there is no need of the presidential post in Iran while it has the Supreme Leader and Vilayet-i-Faqih (rule of the supreme jurist).

Then, the spokesman of the Guardian Council Abbasali Kadkhudai said the Iranian Parliament has no right to eliminate the presidential post and to substitute him for a prime-minister. "However, the respective amendments to the Constitution should be ratified to replace the president with the prime-minister," he said.

The president in Iran is elected for a term of four years and can only be re-elected for one term. If Khamenei's proposal is adopted, MPs will elect the prime-minister.


/Trend/