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Registration starts for Iran's parliamentary poll
ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press
Updated 04:51 a.m., Saturday, December 24, 2011
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, left, and Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad review honor guards during a welcome ceremony at
the Presidential Residence in Yerevan, Armenian capital on Friday,
Dec. 23, 2011. Photo: Hayk Badalyan / Photolure
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, left, and Iranian President.....
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Saturday started registering potential
candidates for the country's March parliamentary elections, a vote
that will be fought between supporters and opponents of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The country's major reformist groups are staying out of the race,
saying they won't field any candidates because basic requirements for
free and fair elections have not been met.
In their absence, the poll for the 290-seat assembly is likely to pit
hard-line candidates who remain staunchly loyal to the country's
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against conservatives who
support Ahmadinejad.
Whatever the outcome, the vote is unlikely to change Iran's course.
The country is a theocracy and Khamenei has final say on all state
matters.
The March 2 elections will be the first nationwide balloting since
Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009, which the opposition said
was heavily rigged. That vote set off months of near-daily protests,
when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in support of
opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi who they claimed was the
rightful winner.
The wave of protests was the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical
leadership since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But
a heavy crackdown suppressed the protests, and many in the opposition
- from midlevel political figures to street activists, journalists and
human rights workers - were arrested. The opposition has not been able
to hold a major protest since December 2009.
For the March elections, the Interior Ministry is in charge of the
weeklong registration process, which started Saturday. All Iranian
nationals between 30 and 75 years of age who have "proven themselves
to be loyal" to Khamenei are allowed to run. Once submitted,
candidacies have to be approved by the hard-line constitutional
watchdog, the Guardian Council.
The council's chief, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, has earlier said the
reformists, whom he called traitors, need not participate. His
position was widely seen as an indication the hard-line body would
disqualify anyone perceived as a reformist from running.
In the previous, 2008 parliamentary elections, the council
disqualified thousands of reformist candidates.
Recently, Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami demanded
that political prisoners be freed and that Mousavi and another
opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, be released from house arrest.
Khatami said those were preconditions for reformists participating in
the March polling. None have so far been met.
Ali Mohammad Gharibani, a prominent reformist leader, confirmed last
week that the reformists will stay out of the race.
"Despite efforts ... to create an appropriate election climate,
unfortunately more restrictions have been imposed," said Gharibani,
who runs the Reformist Front Coordination Council. "Therefore, the
council has decided that it won't issue any election list and won't
support anyone."
Hard-liners say the threat to the ruling system now comes from
Ahmadinejad's supporters. The president has been the target of a
backlash since April for trying to impose too much autonomy in how the
government is run, including defying Khamenei on his choice for the
powerful post of intelligence minister.
Dozens of Ahmadinejad's allies have been detained over the past months
- including four senior government officials last week - in the
evolving power struggle.
From: A. Papazian
ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press
Updated 04:51 a.m., Saturday, December 24, 2011
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, left, and Iranian President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad review honor guards during a welcome ceremony at
the Presidential Residence in Yerevan, Armenian capital on Friday,
Dec. 23, 2011. Photo: Hayk Badalyan / Photolure
Armenian President Serge Sarkisian, left, and Iranian President.....
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) - Iran on Saturday started registering potential
candidates for the country's March parliamentary elections, a vote
that will be fought between supporters and opponents of President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The country's major reformist groups are staying out of the race,
saying they won't field any candidates because basic requirements for
free and fair elections have not been met.
In their absence, the poll for the 290-seat assembly is likely to pit
hard-line candidates who remain staunchly loyal to the country's
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against conservatives who
support Ahmadinejad.
Whatever the outcome, the vote is unlikely to change Iran's course.
The country is a theocracy and Khamenei has final say on all state
matters.
The March 2 elections will be the first nationwide balloting since
Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election in 2009, which the opposition said
was heavily rigged. That vote set off months of near-daily protests,
when hundreds of thousands took to the streets in support of
opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi who they claimed was the
rightful winner.
The wave of protests was the biggest challenge to Iran's clerical
leadership since it came to power in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. But
a heavy crackdown suppressed the protests, and many in the opposition
- from midlevel political figures to street activists, journalists and
human rights workers - were arrested. The opposition has not been able
to hold a major protest since December 2009.
For the March elections, the Interior Ministry is in charge of the
weeklong registration process, which started Saturday. All Iranian
nationals between 30 and 75 years of age who have "proven themselves
to be loyal" to Khamenei are allowed to run. Once submitted,
candidacies have to be approved by the hard-line constitutional
watchdog, the Guardian Council.
The council's chief, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, has earlier said the
reformists, whom he called traitors, need not participate. His
position was widely seen as an indication the hard-line body would
disqualify anyone perceived as a reformist from running.
In the previous, 2008 parliamentary elections, the council
disqualified thousands of reformist candidates.
Recently, Iran's former reformist President Mohammad Khatami demanded
that political prisoners be freed and that Mousavi and another
opposition leader, Mahdi Karroubi, be released from house arrest.
Khatami said those were preconditions for reformists participating in
the March polling. None have so far been met.
Ali Mohammad Gharibani, a prominent reformist leader, confirmed last
week that the reformists will stay out of the race.
"Despite efforts ... to create an appropriate election climate,
unfortunately more restrictions have been imposed," said Gharibani,
who runs the Reformist Front Coordination Council. "Therefore, the
council has decided that it won't issue any election list and won't
support anyone."
Hard-liners say the threat to the ruling system now comes from
Ahmadinejad's supporters. The president has been the target of a
backlash since April for trying to impose too much autonomy in how the
government is run, including defying Khamenei on his choice for the
powerful post of intelligence minister.
Dozens of Ahmadinejad's allies have been detained over the past months
- including four senior government officials last week - in the
evolving power struggle.
From: A. Papazian