Iran: Parliament shortens Ahmadinejad’s term

The Iranian parliament voted on Sunday to unite the presidential elections with the upcoming parliamentary ones, this according to the official Iranian news agency. The proposal, which passed with a surprising 80 percent majority, may cut the term of sitting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad by 18 months.

The bill must still be ratified by the Iranian constitutional committee, which is headed by former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad’s arch-rival, a fact which many see as indicative that the bill will indeed be authorized.

Interesting report. This could be good, or it could be bad. On the one hand, it may well indicate that Ahm-mad-on-a-jihad Ahmadinejad’s star is waning…but on the other hand might this encourage him to accelerate his effort to force events in the direction believed to encourage the return of the “12th Imam” from his sojourn in a well.