How to steal the vote in Iran
By Safa Haeri

PARIS - The prospect of Iran opening up dialogue with the United States culminated in angry protests by the Iranian reformist camp on Sunday, denouncing the decision of the 12-member Council of the Guardians (CG) to disqualify most prominent figures from running for legislative elections, due in February, as "illegal, unfair and politically motivated".

Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, angry at the great number of reformist candidates - including many present influential members of the majlis (parliament) - that were rejected by the Guardians to run in the race, pledged to tap all lawful options to oppose the move.

"I do not agree with this way of disqualifications and I will use legal channels to deal with this issue, which I hope will bear fruit," the powerless Khatami told reporters following a cabinet session. Khatami failed to spell out what he could do if the Guardians insist on their decision.

Chairman of the Majlis' National Security and Foreign Affairs Commission, Mohsen Mirdamadi - himself rejected by the Guardians - compared the disqualifications to an overthrow of the government.

"This is a civilian coup d'etat," he said, as quoted by the official Iranian news agency IRNA, adding, "They have barred certain individuals in every electoral constituency in order to clear the way for their favorite candidates.

"By doing so, they have practically specified the makeup of the seventh parliament from now and this is not an election, but a selection," he said, confirming indirectly many Iranian analyst's forecasts that the conservatives would leave no stone unturned in order to regain the control of the majlis, an important step in resuming diplomatic relations with Washington.

On Saturday, Habibollah Asgar Aladi, general secretary of the Association of Islamic Leagues - one of Iran's oldest, best organized, influential and secretive organizations to which most of the ruling Iranian ayatollahs as well as the wealthiest of the bazaar merchants belong - told reporters: "In case the United States puts an end to its hostilities with the Islamic Republic, talks could start without waiting for the next majlis."

The statement, made at the end of a three-day Congress of the Association, was immediately translated by Iran watchers as a "green light" to overt negotiations with Washington, stalled because of the fierce fighting going on between the conservatives and the reformists concerning the vital question of which side would lead and conclude the talks.

"Having tensions with other nations are not a fixed item, as they can change according to situations, as we are witnessing in our world now," Aladi noted at the beginning of the congress, while welcoming the normalization of relations with Egypt, another arch "enemy" of the Islamic Republic.

In order to explain to the public their change of heart, most particularly supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's so-far declared opposition to any dialogue with the US - also known as "the Great Satan" - the conservatives need to be given the go ahead from parliament before they can proceed with the talks.

According to some analysts, the quasi elimination of popular reformist figures would make it difficult for the European Union to maintain its dialogue with Tehran.

European Union High Representative for Foreign and Security Affairs, Javier Solana, visiting Tehran, criticized the move, saying it would be difficult to explain within the EU.

Talking to reporters during a press conference on Monday, Solana said Iran was facing international scrutiny. "It is very difficult for me to explain to the EU how people already in parliament may not be able to run for re-election," Solana said. "The fairness of an election is not only [a matter] for election day," he added.

"The Council of the Guardians, by rejecting most of the influential and popular candidates, has fully satisfied the United States and other enemies of Iran, pretending the country is ruled by a despotic system," Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Qabel, a reformist cleric, told Radio Farda, the Persian service of the Prague-based Radio Free Europe-Radio Liberty.

But Hosey Shari'atmadari, an intelligence officer specializing in the interrogation of political dissidents appointed by Ayatollah Khamenei as the editor of the evening radical daily Keyhan, contested this view, observing that not only the CG has acted "according to the laws and constitution, but it has also cut the hands of the enemies of Islam and the Islamic revolution".

Among the rejected are many incumbent members of the majlis, including the president's younger brother, Dr Mohammad Reza Khatami, the first deputy speaker and leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front - the country's largest political organization - and Behzad Nabavi, the second deputy speaker.

Other well-known reformist parliamentarians disqualified by the leader-controlled Guardians are the briefly jailed Hoseyn Loqmanian, Naser Shirzad, Elaheh Koola'i, Fatemeh Haqiqatjoo and Shahrbanoo Amanipoor - most of them on charges of activities against the regime, insulting highest-ranking officials or not believing in the fundamentals of the Islamic revolution of 1979, the constitution or Islam.

According to Mirdamadi, one of the leading rejected deputies, the supervisory board had barred the first and second deputy speakers on the grounds that they were disloyal to Islam and the Islamic Republic, as well as the supreme leader.

Commitment to Islam and the Islamic Republic of Iran, allegiance to the constitution and velayat-e faqih (Islamic jurisprudence, as represented by the present leader), having good physical health, holding at least an arts/science degree or its equivalent, lack of a criminal record and being between the age of 30 and 75 are among the pre-requisites for the nominees.

Actually, the majority of candidates running for the elections have been invalidated because of non-allegiance to either the very fundamentals of the present theocratic constitution, Islam or the Islamic revolution, according to a statement released by the CG.

Based on results obtained from various examining bodies, including the Intelligence Ministry, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the Law Enforcement Forces and the Interior Ministry, 54.5 percent of the 8,146 candidates that have registered so far have been rejected by the CG because they either "do not believe in Islamic principles [13.8 percent]; do not believe in the fundaments of a religious governance [14.5 percent] or do not agree with the constitution [16.5 percent]."

"We are witnessing the most widescale rejection in the history of the Iranian parliament. The reason for the rejections as well as anything behind the scenes is crystal clear to us," the younger Khatami told reporters, threatening to reveal the names of those behind the rejections "if parliament's efforts to rescind the disqualifications prove futile".

"The sit-in today is the beginning of a movement which will have more ramifications and if the legitimate demands of the MPs are not addressed, it will become more widespread and take up other dimensions," he observed, adding that they will start with protests to begin with and continue "according to our programs", which he did not reveal, but warned about an en bloc resignation.

Well-informed sources in Tehran told Asia Times Online that while the reformist politicians who control the majority of the seats at present look at mass resignation, provincial governors gave the president one week to overturn the CG's decision or they would also resign.

This is the first time that the powerful CG has come under such open pressures and threats from the reformists, anxious of being extinct in the very likely case that they face a defeat at the next legislative elections, the seventh in the life of the Islamic Republic.

"This issue must be examined and if [it] turns out to be illegitimate, it must be confronted," President Khatami added.

Seventy deputies temporarily walked out of the parliament session earlier in the day and held a sit-in to protest against the disqualifications. "I think what has happened contradicts the view of the supreme leader. We must always be worried about the public dissatisfaction and god willing, the Guardian Council will make amends," Khatami hoped.

However, the president's "advice" to the disqualified hopefuls, as well as to all political groups, was to stay calm and move in the framework of the law and avoid doing anything which may lead to tensions, prompting Iranian analysts to disagree with some commentators seeing a looming "confrontation at the top".

"As is usual, Khatami would find his way to satisfy the ruling conservatives, meaning that he would abstain from open confrontation with the leader, for the simple reason that the CG, which has the right to approve or reject the credentials of all candidates to all elections in the Islamic Republic, is directly controlled by Mr Khamenei," Dr Qasem Sho'leh Sa'di, a veteran politician and lawyer representing Iran's emerging forces calling for radical changes in the present system, explained to Asia Times Online.

Hojjatoleslam Mehdi Karroobi, the "chameleon" speaker of the majlis, said that he and the president had had consultations with Ayatollah Khamenei, CG secretary Ahmad Jannati and some other officials over the case.

"We will continue our efforts," he said, without revealing if the consultations had produced any result satisfying to the reformists, but urging on the rejected candidates to lodge complaints within the legal period announced by the officials. "The time of rejecting the eligibility of candidates without providing any plausible reason is past, no one can any more accept such practices," Karroobi told the CG.

But the government's official spokesman, Abdollah Ramezanzadeh, was even more open, not ruling out an open clash between the CG and the government. "The decision by the Council of the Guardians should not be political or inconsistent with the law. Rejection of eligibility of the incumbent MPs is unacceptable, without documentary evidence, politically motivated and impractical," he said on Sunday, speaking in a round-table debate on "the Government and Election".

"The Council of the Guardians should substantiate the reasons for rejecting the candidates and prove that its action is in accordance with the law. Then the Interior Ministry and the government will respect their decision," Ramezanzadeh said, adding that the government will strictly enforce the law and will not bow to illegal decisions.

Ramezanzadeh also criticized conservative-controlled radio and television for "ignoring impartiality and pursuing political considerations in its broadcasts". The executive boards announced last week that the competency of 92.88 percent of the nominees for the elections throughout the country had been approved, pending the views of the supervisory boards.

Registration of nominees began throughout the country on December 13 and lasted for a week.

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