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Moderate Iranian minister calls for fair elections

TEHRAN, Aug 12 (Reuters) - Iran's reformist interior minister said on Wednesday that fair competition in the upcoming elections to a powerful clerical body was essential to ensure popular participation.

Elections for the Assembly of Experts, which has the power to appoint and dismiss Iran's supreme leader, are due to be held on October 23. Assembly elections are held every eight years.

``People should believe that those candidates who win the majority will be named,'' the official news agency IRNA quoted Abdolvahed Mousavi-Lari, a key minister of moderate President Mohammad Khatami, as saying.

The candidates' qualification must first be confirmed by the conservative- dominated Guardian Council, which oversees all elections in Iran.

Khatami's backers have said that if the Guardian Council tried to block moderate candidates from running in the elections, turnout would be minimal, damaging the image of the Islamic system.

``In the course of political development and people's participation, differences of opinion should be tolerated,'' Mousavi-Lari said.

Fair elections would strengthen security and stability in society, he added.

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