KHAMENEH’I ORDERED CG TO APPROVE REJECTED CANDIDATES
TEHRAN 14 Jan.
(IPS)
Islamic Republic of Iran’s leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh’i, in an effort to diffuse one of the regime’s worst political crisis, urged Wednesday the Council of the Guardians (CG) to review its decision to disqualify some of the candidates from running in the upcoming Legislative election on February 20.
In a meeting with the 12-members CG, half of them appointed by himself, Mr. Khameneh’i observed that since distinguishing the qualification has different stages, “we should not go far in confirming the qualification of the members of parliament", referring to the extreme criteria the Guardian Council has adopted so far in approving the credential of tens of leading reformist MMs (Members of the Majles) candidates.
“On the disqualifications by the Guardian Council of incumbent MPs, Ayatollah Khameneh’i said that those whose qualification has been approved so far should be re-confirmed, unless the contrary is proved”, the official news agency IRNA reported, as threats by President Mohammad Khatami to lead a mass resignation of MMs, government ministers and provincial governors “unless a hard line political watchdog backed down” was denied.
"We have to remain firm. If one day we are asked to leave, then we will all leave, together", the usually mild-mannered President had warned Tuesday an open Majlis session, adding "When it comes to the elections and defending people's rights, the president is firm and will not forget his oath".
"The Guardians Council has a good opportunity to review the cases with precision and conforming with the law", the state media that is directly controlled by the leader quoted Mr. Khameneh’i as telling members of the body.
Ayatollah Khameneh’i, who has the final say on all matters of state, said in the case of MMs who are currently sitting in parliament -- 83 of whom had been barred from re-election -- "if their aptitude was proved in the past, the principle is that they are still competent unless it can be proved otherwise".
Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, the Secretary of the CG that vets all candidates to all elections in the theocratic regime of Iran bowed to the leader’s demand, promised to “re-examine” the case of disqualified incumbent MMs, among them Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the younger brother of the President who is both the first deputy-Speaker and leader of the leader of Islamic Iran Participation Front, the country’s largest political party and other outspoken reformist lawmakers of the 292-seat Parliament, confirming that the body has received complaints against the disqualification.
“This is a civilian coup, one that means changing the regime without military intervention”, Mr. Mohsen Mirdamadi, the Chairman of the National security and Foreign Affairs of the Majles, himself barred, described the CG’s decision.
To resist the decision, rejected lawmakers, joined by other confirmed deputies immediately staged a sit-in at the Majles and menaced of going on an endless hunger strike if the CG decision is upheld.
But contrary to the outrage the move has created in Iranian political circles and the importance it has received outside, the public has remained almost indifferent to what some commentators described as a “storm in a tea cup”.
"We hope ... the upcoming elections in Iran will be free", French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin told a news conference Wednesday in Manama at the end of a five-nation Persian Gulf tour.
"It seems to me to be essential, in the context of the relations of trust we want to maintain with this country, that they be such", he said, echoing a similar warning earlier in the week from European Union (news - web sites) foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
But Iranian commentators dismissed a comment by the French news agency AFP saying “A departure of the reformist government, elected with massive majorities in past polls, could plunge Iran and its blend of democracy and theocracy into political chaos and back into international isolation”.
“These people, including the president himself described outside as moderate, have been powerless or unwilling to carry out the reforms they had promised and suddenly, they contest what they rightly deserve”, Mrs. Nasrin Mahdavi, an Iranian journalist in Germany covering for the Persian service of the Voice of America told Iran Press service.
Other observers said by ordering the CG to approve the most prominent reformist MMs, Mr. Khameneh’i offers them the “most poisonous gift” by making them utterly unpopular.
Already divorced by the voters, mostly the young ones that make the majority of Iranian voters and the international community, the reformists, in order to regain their lost popularity inside and outside, make all this noise, oblivion of the fact if they are allowed to run for the next elections, they would add to their discredit with the public and if elected, they would be nothing than more pawns in a Majles controlled by the conservatives.
The Guardians Council is due to make a final ruling on the disqualifications at the end of the month, and a definitive list of candidates is due to be released around 12 February.
ENDS DIQUALIFICATIONS 14104
http://www.iran-press-service.com/articles_2004/Jan_04/iran_disqualified_14103.html
Thanks nix2
EARTHQUAKE ( approx. 12:00 Noon EST)
Magnitude 5.4 SOUTHERN IRAN
2004 January 14 16:58:51 UTC
Preliminary Earthquake Report
U.S. Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center
World Data Center for Seismology, Denver
Magnitude 5.4
Date-Time Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 16:58:51 (UTC) - Coordinated Universal Time
Wednesday, January 14, 2004 at 08:28:51 PM local time at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location 27.70N 52.31E
Depth 33.0 kilometers
Region SOUTHERN IRAN
Reference 205 km (125 miles) SE of Bushehr, Iran
215 km (135 miles) S of Shiraz, Iran
235 km (145 miles) NE of MANAMA, Bahrain
885 km (550 miles) S of TEHRAN, Iran
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/bulletin/neic_dqba.html
