The mayor should resign himself.
The mayor should resign himself because if 7 members of the Tehran City Council resign at the same time, the council will lose its majority and be dissolved.
In this situation, the Minister of Interior must appoint an interim mayor until an election is held a year later to select new members of the Tehran City Council, who will then choose the mayor.
Critics of the Tehran mayor in the city council have given Zakani until October to resign, and if he does not, they seek the cooperation of other council members to impeach him.
The law requires 14 signatures to hold an impeachment session for the mayor of Tehran, but Zakani’s supporters in the city council are so numerous that the members seeking his impeachment cannot reach 14.
Nasser Amani, a member of the Tehran City Council, told reporters regarding collective resignation that if we reach an impasse in changing the mayor of Tehran and have no other option, we will take this action. In fact, Zakani’s opponents in the Tehran City Council have considered the last resort and, as they say, are willing to give up more than a year of their term in the city council to achieve justice for the city.
Meanwhile, Mehdi Chamran, the head of the Tehran City Council, announced last week that the Supreme Council of Provinces is working to extend this term of the city council to 7 years.
Seyyed Jafar Shorbiani, a member of the presidium of the Tehran City Council, also warned against political confrontations with the council members and labeling, saying, ‘We are seated on the platform of the revolution and on the chairs.’
Let’s not speak in a way that today’s critics are labeled as anti-revolutionary or representatives of the international community. A few people are taking advantage of the lack of unity and the existence of polarizations. Let’s abandon the methods of these past 3 years and not silence the voice of critics.
Mehdi Eghrarian, one of Zakani’s critics in the Tehran City Council, reported on hiding inefficiencies behind political disputes and said in the open session of the city council that the life of radical and combative political groups, which are referred to by various names, depends on creating false dichotomies, such as the conservative-reformist divide, to hide their inefficiencies behind political disputes and avoid accountability for their non-transparent, tribalistic performance based on nepotism, labeling, and file-making.
In the meantime, it has been heard that Alireza Zakani has invited parliament members to a tour of Tehran at the expense of the Tehran municipality.
Some have assessed this action by the Tehran mayor as a political maneuver to gain support, while others see it as an effort to remain in office.
The last solution is collective resignation.
Ali Asghar Ghaemi, a member of the Tehran City Council, said about collective resignation that Mr. Zakani’s inefficiency is a proven matter.
The fact that he tries to present himself as efficient is another matter. The simplest suggestion is for him to respectfully submit his resignation to the Tehran City Council and leave the municipality, creating an opportunity for someone else to serve.
He added that if he does not resign, his critics in the Tehran City Council are serious about changing the city’s management.
We must see what solution they will reach for this change. Perhaps the critics believe that if neither resignation nor impeachment occurs, they will choose the worst possible solution, which is for the Tehran City Council to lose its majority, and naturally, the Minister of Interior will have to appoint an interim mayor for the next year.
This path is not appealing, and we must try to ensure that the decision of the Tehran City Council members does not reach this point.
We did not come to resign.
Seyyed Jafar Tashakori Hashemi, a member of the Tehran City Council, also emphasized that collective resignation is the last solution available to the city council members.
We did not come to resign; we came to solve people’s problems. But if we see that the problems are not being solved, there is no listening ear, and the municipality acts contrary to expectations and the council’s resolutions, we will use all legal solutions, although we will not use the last solution first.
He added that we prefer the Tehran mayor to first correct his methods.
There is a kind of personal self-belief in him that makes him think that no one understands except himself and that everyone else is completely wrong, and only he perceives reality.
This is a mindset that the Tehran mayor must quickly correct within himself and adopt logical, scientific, and participatory methods. We have repeatedly said that we wish for this Tehran City Council and the mayor to succeed and for the public to be satisfied with the performance of this term’s city management.
If this satisfaction does not exist, we will consider all legal capacities, such as questioning, impeachment, and even resignation as the last solution, to protect the people’s rights.
Tashakori Hashemi responded to the question of whether, after three years, he thinks there is room to improve affairs in the municipality, saying it is natural for the municipality to become familiar with the environment, conditions, and city problems in one year and organize its team.
For this reason, we could not put pressure on Tehran mayor Zakani in the first year, but in the second year, we developed a program for him in the city council and provided him with good budgets.
Now that there is just over a year left until the end of the city management term, we cannot proceed with calmness and patience. All ultimatums and follow-ups have been made, and warnings have been given to the municipality.
For this reason, a group of critics in the Tehran City Council, currently numbering 10 and possibly increasing in the future, want to use all capacities to improve methods in the Tehran municipality and, if necessary, proceed with the resignation or impeachment of the mayor.
The last solution to protect the people’s rights is also collective resignation from the Tehran City Council. I emphasize that we do not have much time to hesitate between these options and must quickly reach one of these solutions.
Despite Zakani’s critics in the Tehran City Council seeking his resignation or impeachment and being determined to remove him, Zakani’s supporters in the council have remained silent.
Zakani’s team, holding positions, also attacks Zakani’s critics in the Tehran City Council, especially Nargess Soleimani, the head of the Oversight and Legal Commission, who for the first time explicitly raised the issue of changing the Tehran mayor in the open session of the capital’s city parliament.