Iran's Reformists Eye Elections Boycott

[democratic]

Mon Jan 12, 7:12 PM ET

By ALI AKBAR DAREINI, Associated Press Writer

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040113/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_elections_9

TEHRAN, Iran - A showdown between Iran's hard-liners and liberals deepened Monday as reformist lawmakers barred from upcoming elections threatened to boycott the vote and supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei promised to intervene if the crisis is not resolved soon.

For the second day in a row, legislators who were among those barred from the Feb. 20 elections held a sit-in protest in the parliament building. The hard-line Guardian Council disqualified more than 80 lawmakers, all reformists.

"We will continue our sit-in until politically motivated disqualifications are reversed," lawmaker Elaheh Koolaee told The Associated Press. "If it is not reversed, there will be no elections. There is no reason to participate in so-called elections where hard-line thinkers run without any rivals."

The Guardian Council, which comprises 12 members chosen by Khamenei, has disqualified more than 3,000 of the 8,200 people who filed papers to run for the parliament's 290 seats, lawmakers have said. State broadcast media controlled by hard-liners said the candidates were disqualified because they lacked "the necessary legal qualifications."

If they stand, the disqualifications will be an additional blow for the reformers. The reformists have lost popularity because of their perceived failure to deliver on promises of liberalization, and had hoped to get a boost from the elections.


My take: Khatami's reformists have lost massive legitimacy with the people. They haven't been popular since 2001, almost all Student groups have parted with Khatami's reformers and joined Secular groups. One is dubbed the 'Third Force'.

This will be a huge month in Iran.

[delhurgo]

1. The PBS Frontline piece about this, the student/secular movement, ...

...that just ran about a week ago is now online here: http://www.pbs.org/frontlineworld/watch/

Its called "Forbidden Iran". Its about halfway down the page. You need RealPlayer to view. Its pretty good, but not great. I think it could have been a little bit more hard hitting. As bad as it makes the current Iranian gov't look, they're worse. I've seen other documentaries that show how brutal and repressive they really are. But this piece is still worth a look if anyone's interested.

[democratic]

3. ,

Yeah that show was great. Media is ignoring Iran.. i wonder why that is?

[uhhuh]

2. Interesting

I find it interesting that they used the word "liberals" to define those resisting the hardliners. Don't they know that the word is to be reserved for those who are trying to destroy societies? /sarcasm

Maybe it's a sign that things are starting to turn in our favor?

[JCMach1]

4. Iran is getting close to the tipping point...

Confrontation (if not revolution) is inevitable.