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Iran
The Faqih
The preamble to the Constitution vests supreme authority in the
faqih. According to Article 5, the faqih is
the just and pious jurist who is recognized by the majority of
the people at any period as best qualified to lead the nation.
In both the preamble and Article 107 of the Constitution, Khomeini
is recognized as the first faqih. Articles 108 to 112
specify the qualifications and duties of the faqih. The
duties include appointing the jurists to the Council of Guardians;
the chief judges of the judicial branch; the chief of staff of
the armed forces; the commander of the Pasdaran (Pasdaran-e Enghelab-e
Islami, or Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, or Revolutionary
Guards); the personal representatives of the faqih to
the Supreme Defense Council; and the commanders of the army, air
force, and navy, following their nomination by the Supreme Defense
Council. The faqih also is authorized to approve candidates
for presidential elections. In addition, he is empowered to dismiss
a president who has been impeached by the Majlis or found by the
Supreme Court to be negligent in his duties .
Articles 5 and 107 of the Constitution also provide procedures
for succession to the position of faqih. After Khomeini,
the office of faqih is to pass to an equally qualified
jurist. If a single religious leader with appropriate qualifications
cannot be recognized consensually, religious experts elected by
the people are to choose from among themselves three to five equally
distinguished jurists who then will constitute a collective faqih,
or Leadership Council.
In accordance with Article 107, an eighty-three-member Assembly
of Experts was elected in December 1982 to choose a successor
to Khomeini. Even before the first meeting of the Assembly of
Experts in the spring of 1983, some influential members of the
clergy had been trying to promote Ayatollah Hosain Ali Montazeri
(born 1923), a former student of Khomeini, as successor to the
office of faqih. As early as the fall of 1981, Khomeini
himself had indicated in a speech that he considered Montazeri
the best qualified to be faqih. Hojjatoleslam Ali Akbar
Hashemi-Rafsanjani, who as of late 1987 had been the speaker of
the Majlis since its formation in 1980, also supported Montazeri's
succession. Rafsanjani, in fact, nominated him at the first deliberations
of the Assembly of Experts, as well as at subsequent conventions
in 1984 and 1985. At the third meeting, Montazeri was designated
"deputy" rather than "successor," but this put him in line to
be Khomeini's successor. Since November 1985, the press and government
radio and television broadcasts have referred to Montazeri as
the faqih-designate.
Data as of December 1987
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