ISDM Mehestan
A Universal Covenant for Iranians
To dismantle the present system of repression
We, the undersigned, as a number of Iranian political and cultural activists, have carefully considered the political developments of the last 100 years in our country, during both the Royal and Presidential [so-called Islamic] periods, and have reached the following conclusion:
Without dismantling the present system of repression and dictatorship (the very mechanism that has turned our parliamentary political system, both in Royal and Presidential periods, into repressive and dictatorial ones), our nation would never establish a democratic system based on secularism, non-discrimination, freedom and independence.
We therefore believe, that the most urgent task of the democratic oppositional forces to the present Islamic regime should be finding ways to stop the present oppressive situation, by through shaping our demands of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as returning to the aspirations of our Constitutional Revolution of some 100 years ago, which eventually became futile due to the addition of "official religion" and "political offences" to it as well as nullifying the separation of the office of the king and that of the branches of the government.
We consider a consensus on the following steps as the pre-requisites of a national agreement:
1. Establishment of two high offices.
There are many forms of government in the world but, both the aspirations of our Constitutional Revolution and the experiences of countries with long history of having a symbolic figure-head (such as India and Germany, as well as the Scandinavian kingdoms) put our country amongst the ones with such two-tier system:
- Creation of an executive office that runs the day-to-day affairs of the country, presided over by a Chancellor or a Prime Minister.
- Creation of a non-executive office, which symbolizes the continuum of the nation and indivisibility of the country. The person to head this position would be named either President or King/Queen, upon the decision of the nation and through a referendum.
2. The priority of the referendum on the proposed new Constitution over a second referendum to decide the "title" of the head of the non-executive office.
This provision means that the future transitional government and the Constitutional Assembly should firstly prepare the new Constitution of the country, based on the principals of a government by the people and for the people, reflecting the undisputed sovereignty of the nation, together with detailed functions and duties of the governing Executive Office. The new Constitution should also have an article explaining that the title used for the holder of the Non-executive Office should be determined in a later referendum. At the same time, the new Constitution should be the only source that determines how the holder of the Non-executive Office could be elected and substituted.
3. Strict separation of the two offices.
The duties and responsibilities of the two offices should be clearly separated and explained in the new Constitution from the very outset. Accordingly, all the venues enabling the interference of the Non-executive Office into the operations of the Executive Office should be blocked. The holder of the Non- executive Office, just like the national flag and anthem, would be representing the totality of our Nation and our Country in all national and international occasions. All the decisions and documents produced by the branches of government would become official and executable, once they are signed by the holder of the Non- executive Office, acting as the representative of the whole Nation. Nevertheless, the holder of this office should not interfere in the formation of such documents, but is entitled to refuse to sign any of them. In the latter case, the highest legal authority of the country would be responsible to hear the dispute and its decision would be final and enforceable.
4. The holder of the Non-executive Office is not allowed to decide about the following:
Appointment or dismissal of the holder of Executive Office, formation or dissolution of the parliament, installation of judges to the highest legal court, and commanding the forces of army and law and order. The relationship of all civil and armistice authorities with the Non-executive Office should only be organized through the Executive Office and any non-compliance to this rule should be punishable.
5. Those decisions that do not belong to the Executive Office should be sanctioned by the parliament.
Declaring war and peace, using the armed forces for internal affairs of the country, and not referring the duty of establishing the law and order to the relevant forces (all exceptions and complimentary issued would be determined by the Constitution and its ensuing regulations).
6. Reforming the regionalization of the country and establishing a system of self-governing for the regions.
The Constitution would base the regionalization on the "management of land" principals and explain the workings of self-government (but not self-authority) of the regions, to prevent the centralization of power in the Capital.
7. The process of amending the Constitution.
There should be a provision within the new Constitution that prevents the creation of any amendment that nullifies the above principals and paves the way for the revitalization of dictatorship.
Our century-old experience has proven that neglecting the above principals would certainly result in the recreation of despotic systems and whoever refuses to accept them as a part of his/her agenda would not be considered as someone who thrives to achieve secular democracy.
We therefore expect all of our political figures, leaders and organizations to accept the above principals by signing this covenant with the Iranian nation, declaring their objection to the establishment a dictatorship in Iran.
Signing this Covenant would bestow legitimacy to any political activist, who runs as one of the leaders of the oppositional forces and, at the same time, it gives a chance to secular democratic forces to recognize their potential forces and support them.