Iran Reformists Threaten a Boycott

A showdown between Iran’s hard-liners and liberals deepened Monday as reformist lawmakers barred from upcoming elections threatened to boycott the vote, and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised to intervene if the crisis is not resolved soon.

For the second day, legislators who were among those barred from the Feb. 20 elections held a sit-in at the parliament. The conservative Guardian Council disqualified more than 80 lawmakers, all reformists.

“We will continue our sit-in until politically motivated disqualifications are reversed,” lawmaker Elaheh Koolaee said. “There is no reason to participate in so-called elections where hard-line thinkers run without any rivals.”

The Guardian Council has disqualified more than 3,000 of the 8,200 people who filed papers to run for parliament, lawmakers said. State media controlled by hard-liners said the candidates were disqualified because they lacked “legal qualifications.”

If the disqualifications stand, it will be a new blow for reformers. They have lost popularity because of their perceived failure to deliver on promises of liberalization and had hoped to get a boost from the elections.

Khamenei said Monday that he would intervene if the dispute is not resolved, state TV reported.

President Mohammad Khatami, a moderate, has vowed to contest the disqualifications.

Khatami has tried to liberalize Iran away from the political and social controls imposed by the clerics, who see such changes as undermining the principles of the Islamic Revolution.