Government In Iran Marred By Corruption, Inefficiency, Say Pundits
Iran's electoral system and its impact on governance have come under scrutiny this week, with both conservative and reformist commentators highlighting its problems.
Iran's electoral system and its impact on governance have come under scrutiny this week, with both conservative and reformist commentators highlighting its problems.
Reformist commentator Abbas Abdi criticized the government's approach to the annual budget, noting that the Raisi Administration tends to present bills "for approval" rather than inviting parliamentary review. He argued that the recent rejection of the budget by the Majles (parliament) was a message to the government that parliament should have a say in bills presented.
Abdi also stated that by rejecting the budget bill, the parliament (Majles) wanted to make it known to the government that it has a say and can decide the fate of bills handed over by the government.
He pointed out that the development showed efforts for the unification of the government and parliament within a consolidated ultraconservative governing clique have remained futile.
The commentator was referring to efforts since 2020 to eliminate those who do not belong to the hardliner camp from positions of power. Majles is dominated by ultraconservatives, who also have a strong presence in the presidential administration.
Abdi explained that because of the nature of Iran’s parliamentary system, with no political parties governing the legislature, every lawmaker imposes a heavy burden on the budget to meet their own local and factional interests.
The dynamics between the parliament and the government is badly affected by the two factors of corruption and inefficiency, Abdi maintained, adding that rejecting the budget bill will not solve any problem. "Basically, the current parliament is unable to solve the problem between the two bodies and it needs to find another way to solve the dispute," headed.
Conservative commentator Nasser Imani, during a debate on Khabar Online, argued that Iran's electoral system fails to produce an efficient parliament. He noted the absence of political parties in Iran and the restrictions they face, especially since 2020 when many reformist and moderate candidates were disqualified.
Imani said, "Practically, we do not have any political parties in Iran. Those that exit are not allowed to have any election-related activity other than presenting a list of candidates ahead of every election."
In fact, even that has not been possible since 2020 when reformist and moderate candidates were effectively barred from taking part in elections as nearly all of their well-known candidates were disqualified either by the Interior Ministry or the Guardian Council.
"When we do not have political parties we cannot expect a lively election mood, and we cannot even ensure that the government has a mechanism to listen to the people and their demands," Imani said. He argued that "We have a parliament in which political parties are not represented. This is unprecedented in the world's parliamentary systems. In the absence of political parties with defined plans and platforms, unknown figures with little if any qualifications find their way to the parliament and then they have to discuss key issues such as annual budget."
Meanwhile, Mohammad Atrianfar, who was debating Imani, called for changes to reverse the current trajectory. “If we conclude that we cannot return from that wrong path, then we have to accept that there is no way for reform-minded people like me to participate in political activities in Iran."
Atrianfar argued that "If we want to be politically active, there are only three ways ahead of us: Either we should take action for a regime change, or we need to call for reforms. The third way is just to be passive."
He argued that reforms aim to improve the situation and cited former President Hassan Rouhani as an example of someone with a conservative background who pursued reformist goals by working to improve the country's situation.
In summary, many conservative and reformist commentators in Iran are critical of the country's electoral system, citing issues related to the budget, the absence of political parties, and the need for reforms to address governance challenges.
Farhad Ehteshamzad, the head of Iran Auto Importers Association, said in an interview Friday that the huge loss is the direct result of the government’s interventions in the auto industry.
Iran’s car industry is mired with a wide range of problems. The main manufacturers are owned by the state and enjoy huge incentives and support from the government. Despite the losses, Iran’s automotive industry is the third most active industry in the country, after oil and gas sectors, accounting for about 10% of Iran's GDP and 4% of the workforce (700,000 persons).It was valued in 2020 at $26.4 billion by India-based Modor Intelligence, which forecasts 10 percent sectoral annual growth to 2026. This would be possible without sanctions and with a new infusion of investments and foreign partnerships.
However, the carmakers are unable to satisfy domestic demand and they keep raising prices to levels several times higher than international prices of similar cars. This is partly the reason why imported cars are also expensive. For example, one Tehran showroom was selling an unused 2017 Mercedes-Benz E 200 class for about six times the price of the newest model in global markets. The government has long restricted car imports, turning the country into a vast parking lot of dilapidated cars. In recent years, it announced plans to import cars but the number of units hitting the market insignificant. A total of 241 vehicles were imported in the first quarter of the current Iranian year (March 21-June 21).
There are about a dozen state-and quasi-state-owned automakers in Iran, of which two -- Iran Khodro and Saipa -- accounted for 94% of the total domestic production, with nearly 1,500,000 units of light and heavy vehicles produced annually, mostly sub-standard and older foreign models. Criticizing Iranian automakers for low-quality vehicles responsible for a high rate of road accident casualties, Iran’s traffic police said last year that substandard and unsafe cars lead to at least 17,000 deaths and 300,000 injuries every year.
Ehteshamzad added that considering the huge loss of the state-run carmakers, decisions should be made whether to privatize these companies. He said, "For this industry, significant investments have been made, and a substantial amount of money has been spent to reach this point. If this industry collapses, we will lose a considerable amount of capital."
Highlighting the complexities and dangers of privatization, fraught with corruption in Iran, he said decisions about such fundamental steps need to be made at the highest levels of government. Criticizing the unrealistic figures in the administration's budget bill, he said that the government has set a revenue target of 320 trillion rials ($640 million) from high import taxes on cars.
For years critics and politicians have criticized the government-controlled auto industry and have referred to a “mafia” running the money-losing and inefficient sector. In 2019, it was revealed that these carmakers owed $9 billion, a considerable sum in Iran, due to corruption and mismanagement. "Widespread financial corruption has turned automakers in Iran into a powerful Mafia," a lawmaker said at the time. In 2019, the then CEO of Iran Khodro was arrested on charges of corruption and several managers from Saipa are also in jail.
Also on Friday, another car industry expert Hassan Karimi Sanjari criticized the high price of foreign cars assembled in Iran, saying that a Chinese car that costs around $10,000 is sold for about $30,000."In addition to huge profits, mismanagement in assembly companies has also affected prices, leading to increased costs for assembled cars, ultimately borne by the people. On the other hand, for assembled cars, a monopolistic market has been created, resulting from inflation, sanctions, and the insufficient import of cars to meet demand."
According to Ehteshamzad, the government is only providing lip service to Iran’s car industry, making the sector stuck in a quagmire of “speech-therapy” in a sense that officials only deliver speeches about the car industry instead of acting to deliver results.