Since the revolution in 1979 the Supreme leader (which is Chamenei since 1989) has absolute power. The authority is in his hands. So the legislative, executive and judicial power are not autonomous in their decisions but dependent on the spiritual leader.

Aside there is the Council of Guardians, which comprises six jurists and six clerics. The clerics are elected by the Supreme leader. They ensure every bill's allegiance to the ideals of the Islamic Revolution.

The parliament numbers 290 members. They are voted by the people for a four-year term after a pre-election by the Council of Guardians. That way the Council of Guardians decides who can be voted into parliament.

After the Supreme leader the President is the highest state authority. The candidates for the presidential elections have to be confirmed by the Council of Guardians; they have to be true to the principles of the Islamic Republic. The people vote for the president out of the approved candidates for a term of four years. The presidential power is very limited because every action has to be approved by the Council of Guardians and the Supreme leader.

This radical system has been running since the Islamic Revolution and only changed for a short period during the term of the "reformer" Chatami (1995-2005). In the mid-nineties the discontent of the population threatened to become a struggle for power so Chatami turned up: He became an electoral candidate, joined the population's demands, promised a civil society. The people played along and turned the elections, instead of being the usual farce, into a weapon against the islamists. Chatami won the elections with an overwhelming majority.Western democracies in particular were hoping for a reformation of the Iranian state under Chatamis influence and for the growing confidence of the Iranian people to heal the country and to start a democracy.

The outcome for the followers of this "reformation movement" was sobering. During Chatamis' term newspapers were banned and journalists were put into jail. Political activists and students were tortured and executed en masse. Chatami did not respond and no-one ever asked him what he did against the imprisonment of journalists and students, against the ban of the liberal press, against the judicial arbitrariness and the terrorist attacks.

This has shown that even the reformers were part of the conservative system and their sense of liberty is confined to the ideas of an Islamic Republic and its constitution. The latest demonstrations have to be seen therefore as a turning point. They questioned the legitimacy of the Islamic Republic of Iran. It is not about whether the president should be a reformer (Mussavi) or a hard-liner (Ahmadinedschad). Now people are trying to bring human rights, especially freedom of religion, freedom of speech and press, equality between the sexes and a secular democracy to the country.