Rafsanjani stresses people's role in government stability

ILNA- Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani

Akabar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Chairman of Iran’s Expediency Council stressed the role of people in governance and maintained that with the growth and spread of media, governments that do not have popular bases can not last long.

ILNA reports that speaking in a meeting of members of municipal councils of Tehran Province, Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani said that Islam holds a special place for the role of people in the government.

He added that in democracies, parties that are triumphant in the elections act as buffers and when the elected candidates take a wrong turn, the responsibility falls on the shoulders of the parties and this way the system does not suffer.

He also criticized the policy of limiting the legal powers of city councils saying such policies only weaken the councils and reduce their ability to respond to people’s demands.

Ayatollah Rafsanjani’s declarations come at a time that the opposition claims Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s re-election was fraudulent and they deny the legitimacy of his government.

Ayatollah Khamenei was the first person to congratulate Ahmadinejad on his “victory” thus giving it his seal of approval.

Two presidential candidates, MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi and many reformist organizations renounced the outcome of the elections and announced that they will fight against it through legal channels.

Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani has not officially announced his backing of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and was in fact absent in his inauguration.

Ahmadinejad supporters maintain that he is aligned with the opposition and have made him the object of various accusations.