CHAPTER IV
Iran’s Political System:
Iran’s political structure is a republic, but it is different from other similar political systems. It could be referred to as being a mixture of theocracy and democracy. As we saw on the previous chapter, when going over Islam’s history, Islam experienced the Islamic Revolution in 1979. Therefore the politic al system of Iran, which was established after this event, was defined by the ideas of the revolution.
Iran’s government has an administrative structure. It’s made up of three branches, Legislative Power, Judiciary Power and Executive Power.
Differences between the President and the Leader: * The Supreme Leader has absolute power, while the president is under the Leader’s Rule, and has formal functions of the executive branch * The Supreme Leader is elected by the Assembly of Experts of Leadership. The president is elected through popular vote. * While the Supreme Leader can only be taken off his post by the Assembly of Experts, the President can be taken off by the Supreme Leader. * The supreme leader has exclusive control over armed forces, foreign affairs, judicial systems and the nuclear arsenal of the country. The President controls the cabinet and appoints ambassadors and governors.
∴The Supreme Leader is the absolute rules and the president the chief executive with limited powers.
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THE EXECUTIVE
As we already said, the Islamic Republic of Iran has a unique political system. It has the trappings of a republican system while maintaining the absolute rule of an elite revolutionary Islamic council. For this reason, the country has a Supreme Leader and a President at the same time.
The Executive is basically the President and his cabinet. The president is chosen by the general electorate every four years and he chooses his cabinet ministers, but they have to be approved by the Majles or parliament.
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