Iran: Reformists stick to demands
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Khatami: His government expressed optimism about a solution
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TEHRAN, Iran (Reuters) -- Iranian reformist politicians are sticking to their demand for hundreds of disqualified candidates to be allowed to run in parliamentary elections as decision time neared in Iran's worst political crisis for years.
President Mohammad Khatami's pro-reform government had voiced optimism that a dispute over the mass disqualification of reformist candidates by a hardline watchdog would be resolved Thursday, allowing the February 20 vote to go ahead.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on all state matters, on Wednesday firmly rejected government calls for the vote to be postponed.
But he has ordered the Guardian Council -- an unelected oversight body run by religious hardliners -- to carry out a second review of the bans it imposed on some 2,000 hopefuls, mainly accused of lacking loyalty to Islam and the constitution.
Reformists, fighting to preserve the parliamentary majority they won in 2000 elections, remained skeptical.
"They (hardliners) have sent us many messages that they are reinstating all those illegally disqualified," said Mostafa Tajzadeh, a member of Iran's largest reformist party the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF).
"But we do not believe them because they have never fulfilled their promises in the past," he told Reuters.
IIPF spokesman Saeed Shariati said the Guardian Council had so far reinstated just 51 additional candidates from a list of 600 names suggested by the reformist-run Intelligence Ministry.
The ministry list comprised candidates about whom the government said there was no proof of any wrongdoing.
Most of those disqualified are reformist allies of Khatami, including about 80 members of the current 290-seat parliament.
Crude move, say reformists
Reformists argue the mass disqualification of candidates is a crude attempt by hardliners to regain control of parliament. They say they will be unable to compete for more than half of parliament's seats if the candidate bans stand.
The IIPF announced on Monday it would boycott the vote unless there was a change.
But Tajzadeh left the door open for a change in stance.
"If they reinstate all the illegally disqualified candidates and we feel it is not a pre-determined election, we will decide what to do," he said.
Reformists say they consider illegal all disqualifications that are not backed up by solid proof of the basis for the disqualification.
They also insist that hundreds of candidates who had been approved to stand in previous elections had been unfairly disqualified this time around and must be reinstated. This would include all of those current legislators who have been banned.
The liberal Sharq newspaper on Thursday quoted an unnamed Guardian Council source as saying Khamenei had asked the council to review any mistakes it may have made in imposing the bans.
"The council has fulfilled its legal duty and it will review any cases of mistakes," the source said.
Analysts say the council is unlikely to reinstate many banned candidates, leaving reformists with a tough choice about whether to take part in the election.
Public interest in the electoral row remains muted. Nearly seven years after Khatami's landslide election win, most Iranians have grown disillusioned with the reformists' ability to overcome hardline opposition to reform.
Copyright 2004
Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
