As bombs continue to fall on Iran and fallen leaders have been replaced by successors, the leader of the largest opposition group outside the country told Newsmax on Tuesday that the Islamic regime is "obligated to hold elections for [a] Constituent Assembly within no more than six months."
From her headquarters in Paris, Maryam Rajavi, president-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told Newsmax via email that a new Iran should move quickly on this process.
"The objective is a rapid, transparent process based on the people's vote, not a prolonged transitional process," Rajavi said.
Once a Constituent Assembly is elected, she explained, "the provisional government will resign and all authority will be transferred to the elected representatives of the people."
The Constituent Assembly would then draft a new constitution for a "Republic of Iran," she said.
Rajavi did not make clear whether she would prefer a parliamentary system like those in most European countries or a system with a legislature and a strong presidency such as in France or the United States.
That would be up to the Constituent Assembly and the voters, Rajavi said.
As she has often done in interviews about a new Iran, Rajavi made clear her objection to the assumption of power by perhaps the best-known opposition figure in the U.S. — Reza Pahlavi, namesake son of the shah.
The shah was overthrown by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1979.
"The Iranian people overthrew the shah's regime once and for all," she wrote. "Monarchy in Iran is synonymous with dictatorship and repression, and the Iranian people will never replace one dictatorship with another."
But Pahlavi's supporters in the Iranian diaspora — and Pahlavi himself — insist that he wants to be a transitional figure rather than a monarch and oversee Iran's segue to a democratic system.
Supporters of both Rajavi and Pahlavi are inevitably asked when their leaders would actually return to Iran to begin such a move toward democracy.
"Naturally, Mrs. Rajavi is looking forward to the day she can return to Iran," her spokesman said. "At the first possible opportunity, she will stand side-by-side with the freedom fighters and the Iranian people within the country."
But as long as the fighting rages and followers of the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei remain in power, firing back at U.S. and Israeli forces, and opening fire on protesters, it is highly unlikely that she or any outside opposition leader will return.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
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