Ruling Clouds Iranian Election

A watchdog council’s decision to ban thousands of liberal candidates from running in key parliamentary elections in Iran set reformists and conservatives on a collision course and could force the government to abandon the Feb. 20 vote, leading reformists said Sunday.

About 70 reformist lawmakers staged a sit-in at parliament Sunday and said they might boycott the elections following their disqualification by the Guardian Council, a 12-member body that has blocked scores of reform bills passed by parliament in recent years.

“The situation is like a football match in which the referee sends off one team and invites the other side to score,” Vice President Mohammed Ali Abtahi told reporters.

Guardian Council spokesman Mohammed Jahromi, quoted by the official IRNA news agency, said 2,033 of the 8,200 aspiring candidates had been barred, but members of parliament said the figure was higher. The disqualifications were reported Sunday by the official Islamic Republic News Agency and by allies of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, but it was unclear when the council made the decision.

Khatami vowed to challenge the disqualifications, saying there would be a “harsh reaction” if legal channels failed to overturn the council’s decision.

“It’s meaningless that qualification of prominent figures who have worked for the nation for years is not approved,” the president told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. “I’m against such disqualifications. There are legal ways to fight.”

Khatami said he would hold talks with the Guardian Council and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who officials said was surprised by the number of aspiring candidates who had been disqualified.

“I don’t view these methods as compatible with the principles of religious democracy,” Khatami said.

Reformist parties dominate parliament, but legislator Reza Yousefian said he was among more than 80 reformists, out of 290 members, who had been banned from seeking reelection.

“I believe this kind of disqualification is an illegal coup d’etat, a nonmilitary regime change,” senior reformist Mohsen Mirdamadi, another member of parliament, told reporters.

At stake in the elections is the program led by Khatami, a moderate cleric who stoked hopes of a broad political opening when he was first elected in 1997. But the inability of Khatami and his parliamentary allies to turn those aspirations into reality has disappointed many supporters who wanted more political freedom and economic change.

The parliament, or Majlis, is now in the hands of a reformist coalition that won resoundingly in high-turnout elections in 2000. That was the first time since the 1979 Islamic Revolution that the conservatives lost control of the legislature.

Some analysts said that lingering national sadness over the devastating earthquake Dec. 26 in Bam could dim voting and hurt reformers, who need a large turnout because conservatives enjoy a reliable and committed base of supporters.

The elections are also a test of whether the conservatives, who remain powerful in the government under Khamenei, will allow a fully free vote.

The Guardian Council is empowered to disqualify candidates for a host of reasons, including its reading of the candidates’ religious views, as well as allegiance to the Islamic state and Khamenei.

Reformers have challenged the law that gives overseers such authority, but an attempt to undo it in the last legislative session failed.

“If people judge that there is not a free election, they won’t go to the polls,” said Isa Saharkhiz, a pro-reform magazine editor in Tehran.

Conservatives reversed a losing streak last year by capturing control of municipal councils in some of the country’s largest cities, including Tehran, where turnout was just 10% to 15%. But most small- and medium-size municipalities stuck with reform candidates, who won a majority of local seats nationwide.

Many reform-minded Iranians accuse Khatami and his allies of not fighting for change with sufficient fervor. Khatami has answered that his powers as president are limited.

During the last four years, parliament has passed laws to expand press freedoms, provide for investigations into allegations of torture and curb political prosecutions. But in each case, the measures were vetoed by the Guardian Council, which reviews new laws to make sure they comply with the Iranian Constitution and Islamic law. Half of the 12-member council is appointed by the supreme leader, and its other six members are named by the judiciary and approved by parliament.

In addition, Saharkhiz said, dozens of newspapers and magazines have been closed and journalists jailed, following a heady period early in Khatami’s presidency during which publications and activist groups flowered. The crackdown coincided with a more restrictive press law that was passed before control of parliament went from conservative hands to the reformists in the 2000 elections.

Although Iran enjoys more social and cultural freedom than before the reform drive began, youthful activists have been vocal in their unhappiness over Khatami’s inability to win change more rapidly, even calling for him to resign. Demonstrations during the last two years have resulted in the arrest of a number of student leaders.

The youth vote is especially important because about 70% of the Iranian population is younger than 30.

Abbas Haidari, a 22-year-old naval architecture student at Amir Kabir University in Tehran, said he planned to sit out the elections because the results didn’t seem to matter. Members of parliament “cannot do much,” he said, “when other institutions can veto the bills. It means the people’s vote has no value.”

Political analyst Hossein Rassam said he expected a compromise to be hammered out in coming weeks in which many of the vetoed candidates would, after all, be allowed to run.

“I doubt we will go into the vote with this many barred from running,” he said.

*

Times special correspondent Lily Sadeghi and wire services contributed to this report.