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The Iranian constitutional referendum of 1989 was the first and so far the only time the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran has been amended. It made several changes in Articles 5, 107, 109, 111, and added article 176. It eliminated the need for the Supreme Leader (rahbar) of the country to be a marja or chosen by popular acclaim^[1], it eliminated of the post of prime minister, and it created a Supreme National Security Council.

Contents 1 Background 2 Members of the council 3 See also 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Background

On 24 April 1989 while on his deathbed, Khomeini appointed a 25-man Constitutional Reform Council (also known as the Assembly for Revising the Constitution). The council named Ali Khamenei as Khomeini's successor as Supreme Leader of Iran and drew up several amendments to the original constitution. Since the senior mujtahid or Marja of Iran had given only lukewarm support to Khomeini's principle of rule by Islamic jurist, and Khamenei was not a marja, the original prerequisite that the rahbar (leader) be "a paramount faqih" (i.e. one of these marja) was dropped from the constitution.^[2]

Some changes to the constitution introduced by the Reform Council include:

• changing the name of the Majlis-e Melli to the Majlis-e Islami.
• increasing the size of the Assembly of Experts to 86 members
• giving the Assembly of Experts the authority to convene at least once a year and to determine whether the Supreme Leader was `mentally and physically capable of carrying out his arduous duties.`
• transforming the Expediency Council into a permanent body with members appointed by the Supreme Leader as well as representatives from the three branches of government, the armed forces, the intelligence service, and the Guardian Council. (

The amendments were approved by Iranian voters in a national referendum with a 97% yes vote ^[3] and became law on 28 July 1989.^[4]

[edit] Members of the council

This is a list of members of Constitutional Amendment Council of Iran, appointed by Ayatollah Khomeini, who reviewed and amended the Constitution of Iran in 1989:

• Abbas Ali Amid-Zanjani
• Ebrahim Amini
• Ahmad Azari-Ghomi
• Asadollah Bayat
• Mohammad Emami-Kashani
• Hassan Habibi
• Najafgholi Habibi
• Hossein Hashemian
• Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
• Ahmad Jannati
• Mehdi Karroubi
• Ali Khamenei (deputy chairman)
• Hadi Khamenei
• Abolghasem Khaz'ali
• Mohammad Reza Mahdavi-Kani
• Ali Meshkini (chairman)
• Mehdi Mohammadi-Gilani
• Mohammad Daneshzadeh Mo'men
• Mir-hossein Mousavi
• Abdolkarim Mousavi Ardebili
• Mohammad Mousavi-Khoiniha
• Abdollah Noori
• Hassan Taheri-Khorramabadi
• Mohammad Reza Tavassoli
• Mohammad Yazdi

[edit] See also

v • d • e Elections and referendums in Iran Presidential elections 1980 · 1981 (Jul) · 1981 (Oct) · 1985 · 1989 · 1993 · 1997 · 2001 · 2005 · 2009 Parliamentary elections 1909 · 1923 · 1962 · 1967 · 1971 · 1975 · 1980 · 1984 · 1988 · 1992 · 1996 · 2000 · 2004 · 2008 Assembly of Experts elections 1983 · 1991 · 1999 · 2006 Local elections 1999 · 2003 · 2006 Referendums 1963 · 1979 (Mar) · 1979 (Nov) · 1989

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• (Persian) Transcripts of Amendment Council sessions