Momentous Election for Iran

Three years ago Iranian voters stunned their clerical rulers by overwhelmingly electing as president the reform-minded Mohammad Khatami, who promised to ease the rigorous social proscriptions imposed after the 1979 Islamic revolution. Friday, in the most competitive parliamentary election in two decades, Iranians will have the chance to reaffirm their demands for more freedom. But even support for reform won’t assure quick or sweeping changes. Iran’s constitution vests supreme power in Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the 12-member Guardian Council, which requires that any legislation passed by parliament must conform with Islamic law. The conservatives nonetheless can ignore the implications of a strong vote for change only at the risk of inviting deeper discontent.

The biggest danger to the reform movement may lie within its own lack of solidarity; 18 new parties and more than 5,700 candidates are competing for 290 parliamentary seats. To win in this first round of voting a candidate must get 25% of the votes cast in his or her district. (There are 424 women candidates.) Anything less requires a runoff.

President Khatami’s interest in easing Iran’s international isolation has met with some success in Europe but has yet to produce a change in relations with the United States, which Iran’s rulers continue to condemn. But 30 million Iranians--almost half the population--have been born since the 1979 revolution, and it is from this group especially that the clamor for more moderate policies comes. A clear show of support for greater moderation should encourage Washington to again seek opportunities for improved relations with Tehran.

Reformers indicate that if they win a parliamentary majority they are prepared to act cautiously but purposefully to broaden human rights and otherwise move Iran toward the civil society that Khatami says he wants to establish. That would be good for Iran and helpful to its relations with the world beyond its borders.