Leading Iranian reform candidate says disqualification
illegal
TEHRAN, Feb 23 (AFP) - The leading reformer running in Tehran's landmark
municipal polls said Tuesday that his disqualification by the conservative-dominated
election Supervision Council was illegal.
Both the interior ministry and a conciliation committee have declared
the removal from the ballot of 12 reform candidates led by Vice President
Abdollah Nuri to be "illegal and baseless," said Nuri, who is
close to moderate President Mohammad Khatami.
The reformist-led interior ministry issued a statement "rejecting
the rumors about the ineligibility of some candidates" in the country's
first-ever municipal elections, which will be held nationwide.
"All the candidacies published in recent days within the legal
time period are valid and the candidates can campaign," the ministry
said.
However, the Supervision Council, which decides whose candidacies are
valid, has said that Nuri did not resign from his vice presidential post
in time to run in Friday's elections.
In response to criticism by Tehran governor Ayatollah Azarmi of the
11th-hour disqualifications, the council's leader, conservative MP Ali
Movahedi-Savoji, said: "There is no time period for announcing eligibility."
Azarmi had told the official news agency IRNA: "Due to the fact
that the deadline by which the Supervision Council had to express its
views on the candidates has expired, Tehran's governorate general cannot
accept the rejection of the qualifications of these candidates."
Movahedi-Savoji also said that the conciliation committee's opinion
"could not in any case block our decision."
"The rejected candidates cannot put themselves forward while the
problems concerning them have not been resolved. Without that, ballots
in their favor will be void." he told the conservative Kayhan newspaper.
Deputy Interior Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh, who is responsible for organizing
Friday's vote, had charged that Mohavedi-Savoji's disqualification order
against the moderate candidates was invalid because it bore the signatures
of just two of the Supervision Council's members, not the three required
by law.
But Mohavedi-Savoji retorted that the order was quite legal because
the decision had been taken in the presence of three of the council's members.
Some of the candidates had been disqualified for failing to provide
documentary proof that they had resigned from all government posts as required
by electoral law, Kayhan said.
Others had failed to sign the required declaration of support for the
position of supreme leader, the constitutional centerpiece of Iran's Islamic
Republic currently held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
And one candidate did not have the clean police record required by
electoral law, Kayhan said.
"Whether my eligibility is approved by the council or not makes
no difference to me," Nuri told a news conference, adding that "what's
important is that the elections take place."
Control of the capital with its 10 million-plus population is the principal
prize in the elections as both conservatives and reformers seek to consolidate
their local power base ahead of next year's key parliamentary elections.
The Iran News daily said Tuesday that the attempt to prevent reformers
from running "can be interpreted as an anti-election measure"
that "will no doubt put a damper on the election process and may even
heighten tension between political factions and parties."
"The disqualified candidates may then become even more popular
because our national mentality is such that our public always supports
the innocent and those who are perceived to have been wronged," the
English-language paper said.
Links
