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Mohammad Reza Bahonar, the first deputy Majlis speaker, demanded that Majlis Public Relations and the spokesman for the Majlis presiding board issue a serious notice to the "national medium" (IRIB) [Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting] for its report about the Majlis' vacations. Bahonar, who was chairing yesterday's Majlis open session, said this matter in response to a legal notice stated by Sa'id Abutaleb, representative of Tehran. Abutaleb referred to article 23, section 11, of the Majlis internal constitution regarding the need to uphold the Majlis' esteem and said: "For a couple of days now the media have been speaking about the Majlis' vacations." This member of the fundamentalist [osulgara] faction added: "Today the radio was discussing this matter at 8:00 a.m. and the reporter concluded that the Majlis had 220 days off during the year." Abutaleb said: "Another time, one of our friends (MPs) had an interview in which he said the Majlis had too many days off." This representative of Tehran stated: "If we were to calculate workdays in this way and say that the Majlis is active only when there are open sessions, then should we also say that the administration is closed on the days when it doesn't have a session?" Abutaleb said: "When the Majlis doesn't hold open sessions, it doesn't mean that the entire legislative branch is closed. Some of the Majlis representatives have three to four offices in their electoral constituencies." He added: "Which representative do you know that is able to go home sooner than 11 or 12 at night?"
A representative of Tehran criticized a radio reporter's inaccurate piece of information about the Majlis. Sa'id Abutaleb, representative of Tehran, yesterday in a notice complained about the inaccurate news coverage of the Majlis proceedings by some media and called for the Majlis presiding board's explanation for public opinion. He alluded to the national radio's report of the Majlis session on Wednesday and said: "Today, I was on my way to the Majlis when I heard a reporter on the radio saying that the legislative branch had 220 days off during the year. I don't know on what basis the radio reporter had made his calculations that he came up with this number." Abutaleb said: "When the Majlis is not holding open sessions, it doesn't mean that the entire legislative branch is closed. Otherwise, if workdays were to be calculated in this way, we might as well say that the administration works only two days a week, because its sessions are held twice a week." Engineer Bahonar, who was chairing the session at the time, answered: "Those media that suggest that the Majlis has too many days off are being greatly unfair to the Majlis, because our Majlis is one of the most active parliaments in the world, and the function of Majlis is not merely confined to holding open sessions. Oversight and attending the affairs of voters are also among the duties of Majlis representatives."
