If political change in the Middle East has historically been heralded by changes in head-covering styles, then Iran's new parliament promises to be a departure. When the new representatives filled the halls of the parliament on 27 May, for the first time there was not a clerical turban in every row. Also new were the head scarves sported by female MPs which replaced the insistently pious full-body black covering called the chador. With a three-quarter reformist majority, the possibility of a modern, younger speaker, and the will to try to address unmet popular expectations, since President Mohamed Khatami took office, the sixth parliament is a significant gain in the reformist movement to democratise Iran.
Reformists intend to use their newly-found legislative muscle to change how government works.
Their ultimate goal, which they try not to mention lest terrified hard-liners lash out, is to revise the Constitution. They plan to give a comprehensive overhaul to both the institutional arrangements and imprecise legal codes that currently enable conservatives to behave as legal authoritarians. By updating the electoral law, for example, reformists can check the Guardian Council's virtually unilateral screening powers, which they believe have turned the last five parliaments into a quasi-populist rubber stamp. The council, dominated by hard-liners, is required to approve candidates for any election. It has frequently used this power to prevent reformists from running.