Majles Questions the President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad turned into the first Iranian president summoned by the parliament to explain his conduct.
After months of rumors and see-saw struggle, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad finally appeared in the parliament on Wednesday to answer questions submitted by more than seventy MPs, spearheaded by Principlist Ali Motahhari, on his conduct. His advocating of the "Iranian School" notion put forth by his aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei --deemed to be unorthodox by some conservatives, refusal to allocate the parliament-approved credit for Tehran's underground railway network, dismissal of former FM Manouchehr Mottaki during his visit to Senegal and an eleven-day absence from the office were on the top of the lawmakers' motion.
Clerics Hamid Rasaei and Morteza Agha-Tehrani, two key supporters of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in the parliament.
Along with his entourage, the president enters the parliament to answer ten questions posed by the discontent MPs. A one-hour speech was set for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to convince his critics.
Ali Motahhari, the designated speaker by the signatories of the motion. He was among the first to congratulate Mahmoud Ahmadinejad upon his election in 2005, but turned against the president after a couple of years, mostly because of what he assumed to be a 'liberal' cultural attitude followed by the government.
Speaker Ali Larijani talking to a legislator while Mahmoud Ahmadinejad addresses the Majles.
Mostafa Kavakebian, Reformist MP who tried to introduce himself as the new leader of the Reformist front after the post-2009 presidential election turmoil. He failed to enter the ninth parliament in the recent elections.
Hossein Fadaei (dressed in white) and Ali-Reza Zakani (on his right, owner of the Jahan News website); they were among the well-known Principlist lawmakers who released a statement calling for cancellation of the questioning session, in order "not to bitter the sweet taste of high-turnout elections" for the Iranians. Far right is Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel, speaker of the seventh parliament, who is rumored to be the pro-Ahmadinejad bloc's favorite candidate for the same position in the ninth parliament.