Gasoline price hike; Parliament moves to impeach Rouhani
28 members of parliament have begun collecting signatures for a motion to impeach Rouhani. The motion includes mismanagement of market regulation, failure to control the currency, and a 300% increase in gasoline prices. Rouhani has ordered that livelihood assistance be paid starting Monday.
On Sunday evening, November 16, Bukan MP Mohammad Qasim Osmani resigned in protest of the government's decision to triple the price of gasoline. ILNA news agency quoted Osmani as saying: "If the speaker of the parliament is supposed to express his opinion in decision-making centers, why are we in the parliament? I am submitting my resignation to the presiding board in protest of this."
Based on what it heard, the "Etemad Online" website reported that the resignations of Mahmoud Sadeghi, representative of Tehran, Qasem Jasemi, representative of Kermanshah, Mohammad Javad Abtahi, representative of Khomeini Shahr, and Mohammad Javad Fathi, representative of Tehran, are being prepared.
At the same time, 28 members of parliament have prepared a bill to impeach Hassan Rouhani and are busy collecting signatures for this bill. Jalal Mahmoudzadeh, a member of the Omid faction, told the “Af” website: “This bill has six axes, among which we can mention the lack of management of market regulation, high prices and inflation, the inability to control the currency, increasing unemployment, and the 300% increase in gasoline prices.”
Mahmoudzadeh reported that the signatories of the plan come from different political spectrums in the parliament.
According to the internal regulations of the parliament, impeachment of the president requires the signatures of at least one-third of all representatives, and a motion of incompetence of the president requires a two-thirds vote.
The impeachment motion against Rouhani is underway while the main debate among the representatives on Sunday morning was on the impeachment of the Speaker of the Parliament. Critics of Ali Larijani say that he based his opinion on the meeting of the heads of the three branches of government, not the opinion of the people's representatives.
Hassan Rouhani emphasized in a cabinet meeting on Sunday evening, November 16, that the government's goal and basis for the livelihood support plan is to help low- and middle-income families who are under financial pressure due to economic sanctions. Rouhani ordered the Planning and Budget Organization to begin paying livelihood assistance starting Monday.
Rouhani has said: "Protest is the people's right, but the calculation of protest is separate from unrest."
Source: DW
