TEHRAN, 27 January 2004 — Iranian reformists yesterday threatened to boycott next month’s legislative elections after the Guardian Council vetoed legislation that sought to curb its powers.
Late on Sunday, the Guardian Council, a powerful, unelected body that supervises elections, vetoed a bill that reversed the disqualifications of thousands of candidates in the elections.
In a statement, the government hinted that if the disqualifications were not overturned, it would not hold the elections.
“The government will continue its activities to help form conditions for fair, free and competitive elections... existence of competition is the main condition for holding the elections,” the Cabinet statement said.
Students said they planned mass protests to denounce the hard-liners. “Students will join professors of all universities in Tehran to support disqualified prospective hopefuls and denounce hard-liners who are restricting people’s choice,” reformist student leader Hossein Baqeri said.
The veto is likely to provoke a boycott of the Feb. 20 parliamentary elections as reformists have warned they would not take part in the elections where more than a third of the candidates had been prevented from running.
“The rejection means there is no will on the part of hard-liners to resolve the political crisis through logical methods. It only pushes reformist lawmakers to harden their position and seriously consider mass resignations and boycotting the poll,” said Mohsen Armin, a prominent reformist lawmaker and one of those disqualified.
He said boycotting the elections has become a serious option for reformists, including those who had qualified to run again. President Mohammad Khatami’s administration, he added, “is expected to seriously consider not holding the elections if things don’t change.”
The bill Parliament passed had sought to overturn the disqualification of more than a third of the 8,200 candidates — including more than 80 reformist sitting lawmakers — who had registered for the elections. Reformists have condemned the disqualifications as an attempt by hard-liners to skew the elections in their favor.
“We’ve been informed that the Guardian Council has vetoed the legislation on the grounds that it contradicted the constitution and Shariah (Islamic) law,” Mohsen Mirdamadi said. Mirdamadi heads the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament and is one of the lawmakers disqualified from standing again.
The Guardian Council issued a statement yesterday confirming its veto, state-run Tehran Radio reported.
Another reformist legislator who has been disqualified, Fatemeh Haqiqatjou, said that with its veto, “the Guardian Council has effectively pushed the country toward greater political chaos.” “The rejection brings reformers and all those who want free and fair elections closer to boycotting the elections,” Haqiqatjou said. “Iranians never allow dictators to decide for them.”
In a session broadcast live on state radio on Sunday, legislators voted by standing to approve the bill. They categorized it as “triple-urgent,” meaning highest priority. It was the first time since Iran’s 1979 revolution that Parliament has approved a triple-urgency bill.
The bill would have amended the national elections law to force the Guardian Council to reinstate all disqualified candidates unless there is legal documentation to prove them unfit for Parliament.
