Iran's local elections spark new rift within regime
TEHRAN, Jan 29 (AFP) - Preparations for Iran's first ever municipal
elections next month sparked a new rift Friday between the government
of moderate President Mohammed Khatami and his conservative opponents.
Interior Minister Abdolvahab Mussavi-Lari slammed the conservative-dominated
Supervision Council for rejecting "a significant number of candidates"
for the elections due on February 26.
"The Supervision Council should monitor and endorse the decisions
of the Executive Council and not allow itself to approve or reject the
candidacy of this or that candidate," Mussavi-Lari told the official
news agency IRNA.
In an uncomfortable sharing of powers, the two separate bodies are
responsible for preparing the final list of "eligible" candidates
which the interior ministry says should be published on February 4.
The Executive Councils, which are part of the interior ministry,
are responsible for examining the candidates' files and organizing
the vote.
The parallel Supervision Councils, whose members are appointed by
the conservative-dominated parliament, are charged with checking the candidates'
files, endorsing the Executive Councils' decisions and "supervising
the running of the election."
The Supervision Councils have taken this to mean that they have the
right to reject candidacies that are not in strict conformity with the
letter of the electoral law, which sets a series of criteria for assessing
candidates' loyalty to the Islamic republic's constitution.
As well as being literate and at least 25 years of age, candidates
are required to have no record of breaking the law or supporting the ousted
shah, and to recognize both the consitution of the Islamic republic and
the institution of supreme leader.
Khatami's moderate and left-wing supporters accuse the conservatives
of using the criteria to disqualify their candididates and block genuine
participation in the elections by all factions within the regime.
But the conservatives in the Supervision Council strongly reject the
moderates' charges.
Khatami's supporters were seeking to "politicize" the election,
countered Ali Movahedi-Savoji, a conservative MP who is a member of
the council.
A similar controversy erupted last year before Iran's last nationwide
elections, for the Council of Experts which is responsible for electing
Iran's supreme leader, a post currently held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Some Khatami supporters called for a boycott of the elections, after
their candidates were disqualified. Khatami himself criticised the selection
process, but refused to endorse the boycott calls.
More than 330,000 Iranians, including 5,000 women, have put their
names forward as candidates for next month's elections.
Even before any disqualifications, the number fell far short of the
interior ministry's hopes.
The ministry had expected more than a million hopefuls to put their
names foward to stand in the elections for some 200,000 municipal councillors.
The councillors will be elected for four years and will in turn elect
720 mayors.
Previously the mayors had been appointed by the interior ministry
and its local representatives.
Local elections were provided for in the Iranian constitution adopted
in 1980, but none have previously been held.
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