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Municipal election campaign opens in Iran

TEHRAN, Feb 18 (AFP) - Posters and photos of candidates were plastered all over buildings, bridges and telephone poles of Tehran as the campaign for the February 26 municipal elections kicked off officially Thursday.

The same pictures were splashed over newspapers and magazines, and the windows and bumpers of taxis, as the candidates prepare for just a week of campaigning -- all electoral activity is banned the day before the polls.

The municipal elections, the first since the 1979 Islamic revolution which overthrew the shah, are being watched with intense interest.

The stakes are highest in the main cities, where conservatives and reformists are battling it out for the post of mayor, a position formerly appointed by the interior minister.

But the poll is also being seen as a dry run for next year's parliamentary elections, enabling the two main political forces to weigh up their relative popularity with the voters.

About 300,000 candidates, including some 5,000 women, are in the running for 200,000 seats on councils in towns and villages across the country.

All would-be councillors had to vetted by selection committees, dominated by conservatives, and publication of the definitive list was held up for a week, following controversy over the banning of some candidates close to reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

Four members of the illegal but tolerated opposition Freedom Movement of Iran were given permission to stand in Tehran, but all FMI members who wanted to stand in the provinces were disqualified. FMI leader Ibrahim Yazdi said his party would try to make alliances with other candidates.

Tehran, with a population of nearly 10 million, has only 15 seats on offer. Conservative candidates are standing on a joint list, supported by the Association of Combattant Clergy, the oldest and most powerful political-religious organisation in the country.

Their posters call for a humane and modern adminstration, and preach respect for traditional architecture.

"The city's development can be guaranteed by specialists working for the people," the posters read.

The reformers, a coalition of former radicals and moderates, are led by former interior minister Abdollah Nuri, a close associate of Khatami and of the previous mayor, Gholamhossein Karbaschi.

Karbaschi is ineligible to stand after being found guilty of corruption last year in a case he alleged was brought by his conservative opponents.

The reformers are pledging "real participation in power" as the election promises to be a crucial test of the new political openness at the top of Khatami's agenda since his 1997 election with a landslide majority.

Nationwide, conservative candidates have been culled from those deemed most faithful to the Islamic regime and the principle -- written into the constitution -- that Iran is led ultimately by its spiritual leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Thursday's edition of the English language Tehran Times called on candidates and political parties to "issue their manifestoes including their plans for taking over some responsibilities from the municipalities and offering services to the citizens."

It said candidates should hold meetings with the people "to air their views on the current issues, offer solutions and also become informed of the public expectations."

The ministry of the interior is setting up 60,000 polling stations, and for the first time voters will be given voting cards. In previous elections they have used their identity cards.

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