Iran reformists say most of its candidates barred
TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran's main reformist coalition said onSaturday government bodies had barred the vast majority of itskey candidates from running in next month's parliamentaryelection but that it still planned to contest the vote.
The Coalition of Reformist Groups criticised a hardlineelection watchdog which vets candidates for failing to ensure acompetitive race in the March 14 vote in the Islamic Republic.
The election for parliament, now dominated by theconservative backers of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, will test thepopularity of the hardline president who came to power vowingto share out oil wealth more fairly but failed to curbinflation.
"In a surprising and organised act, (government) committeesbarred 90 percent of our key candidates throughout thecountry," Coalition spokesman Abdollah Naseri told a newsconference.
The reformist grouping could now only hope to run for some67 out of 290 seats up for grabs but it would still "compete inthe election ... as much as it can despite all the limitationsit faces," he said.
Candidates face a vetting process by government committeesand the conservative-controlled Guardian Council, which hasstopped hundreds of reformists running in past votes. Thecouncil can reinstate those banned during initial screening.
In a preliminary filtering process, more than 2,000 of the7,200 who registered were barred. The Guardian Council canreinstate hopefuls or bar others based on criteria such asloyalty to the Islamic system.
COMPETITIVE ELECTION
After pro-reform politicians like former President MohammadKhatami voiced concern about mass disqualifications, theGuardian Council said on Saturday it had reinstated about 300candidates, adding to 280 announced earlier this week.
But Naseri said many of the reformists' main candidates,including former Education Minister Morteza Haji, remainedbarred.
"Nothing new has happened for the reformists since thisprocess of reconsidering the cases of some of those initiallydisqualified began," he said.
Naseri, who said he also had been disqualified, dismissedas "propaganda" claims by some Iranian media that the scene wasnow set for a competitive election.
The Guardian Council is expected to announce the final listof eligible candidates in the first week of March.
Parliament does not draw up policy on major issues such asIran's nuclear row with the West, but analysts say the resultwill indicate Ahmadinejad's chance of re-election in 2009, ifhe decides to run.
Naseri said an election boycott would only harm thereformists' image as supporters of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
"Some in the country do not want reformists to be known asthe supporters of the revolution," he said. "We will not allowthat to happen under any circumstances."
(Writing by Zahra Hosseinian, Editing by Richard Williams)