The Condition of the “Majority’s Consent” in Forming a Government and Its Continuity in Imam Khomeini’s Viewpoint

Abstract

One of the important issues in political jurisprudence, is the condition of the consent of majority for the adoption of the position of public guardianship (Velayat Ameh) by a qualified jurisprudent. This research is an attempt to study this issue based on Imam Khomeini’s works and statements, as the theoretician and founder of a religious government in Iran. The main question of this research is as follows: What is the role of the majority’s consent in legitimation and continuity of a qualified jurisprudent. According to some notions, if a just jurisprudent, with the support and cooperation of some groups of people, who are in minority, is able to form a government, he is dutybound to take practical action in this regard. But the analysis of the collected data for this research shows that in Imam Khomeini’s viewpoint, although the majority’s consent does not have an effective role in proving the public guardianship, it is a rational and canonical condition for assuming the position of guardianship. "Relying on public votes", "right to self-determination of the people", "paying attention to the majority vote" and "negation of coercive rule" are four important pillars in the statements of Imam Khomeini about the role of the people which obviously bind the ruling of the jurist to the consent of the majority The necessary data for this research were collected from library sources, including Imam’s Sahifa and were analyzed through continent analysis method.

Keywords

• imam khomeini
• political legitimacy
• majority vote
• right to rule
• rule of jurisprudent