Lawmakers Scuffle After Iran Election

Defeated in an election widely denounced as undemocratic, Iran’s reformers vented their frustration in a rowdy parliament session Monday. State media, meanwhile, reported that eight people died over the weekend in protests against the vote.

European and American officials also voiced their disappointment with Friday’s vote, in which conservatives wrested control of the 290-seat parliament from reformists. They said the disqualification of thousands of reformist candidates by an unelected, hard-line panel of Islamic clerics was unfair.

“This interference was a setback for the democratic process in Iran,” European Union foreign ministers said in Brussels.

In the U.S., State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said, “We made clear our concerns about an election that was shaping up to be deeply flawed in the run-up to the elections, and it turned out that way.”

In the Iranian parliament Monday, scuffles broke out as reformists began resigning after their defeat in a vote that many were barred from contesting.

“Victory in a competition without rivals is not epic but a historical fiasco,” lawmaker Rasoul Mehrparvar said during the session, broadcast live on state-run radio.

Conservatives ridiculed the resignations. “Their aim is not really resigning. This is just propaganda,” Gholamali Haddadadel said.