Crisis looms in Iran as both sides battle over = polls

Regional news

Crisis=20 looms in Iran as both sides battle over=20 polls
students watch with mix of concern, = apathy=20 as hard-liners, reformists take stance on = boycott=20

As banned MPs resign in protest and blast = conservative=20 Council of Guardians, ordinary citizens say blame = should fall=20 on =91whole system=92

Borzou Daragahi
Special to The Daily Star

TEHRAN: The politicians, barred from running again = for=20 office, continue making speeches. The students, = betrayed and=20 disillusioned, continue showing up for demonstrations = while=20 the militant conservatives, about to take control over = the=20 government, keep an eye on the unfolding events from a = distance.
Yet some say they=92re simply going = through the=20 motions. Among many of Iran=92s 67 million people, a = deep=20 malaise has set in about the upcoming parliamentary = elections,=20 as well as the future of the country.
=93Four = years ago we=20 voted for them,=94 said Arash, a chemical engineering = student at=20 Amir Kabir University, where about 500 students = gathered=20 Tuesday in a tepid display of support for the = resigning=20 deputies. =93They went into the Parliament and instead = of doing=20 something, took a fast of silence.=94
Brushing = aside the=20 protests of Iran=92s president, lawmakers, ministers = and=20 governors, a powerful council of conservative jurists = has=20 refused to allow reformist politicians and hundreds of = other=20 candidates to run in the Feb. 20 polls.
Several=20 parliamentarians mostly reformists = resigned from=20 their posts Sunday, blasting the upcoming elections as = illegitimate and vowing a boycott unless polls are = postponed.=20
=93An election with results already known is = traitorous to=20 the nation,=94 Rajabali Mazroui, a legislator among = those barred=20 from running, said in Parliament.
Students have = vowed to=20 hold a demonstration Wednesday at the University of = Tehran.=20 Authorities have vowed to block it, setting the stage = for a=20 confrontation with security forces.
Yet little of = this has=20 proved capable of shaking the Iranian political body = into=20 action.
One Tehran medical resident, who asked = that her=20 name not be used for fear of retribution, said most of = the=20 people at her teaching hospital from her fellow=20 residents to the janitorial staff to the penniless = patients=20 who walk in for free healthcare say they won=92t = vote.=20
=93The problem isn=92t the reformists,=94 she = said. =93The problem=20 is the whole system.=94
When Hashem Aghajari, a = prominent=20 reformist thinker, was convicted of blasphemy by = conservative=20 jurists last year, thousands of students filled this = campus to=20 hear reformist MPs speak. But even though the students = listened politely, opinions were divided. Some called = them=20 hypocrites, opportunists and bigots. Many said they = wouldn=92t=20 vote in the upcoming elections and hadn=92t planned on = doing so=20 even before the resignations.
=93If we don=92t = vote, all the=20 world will know that this is not a popular = government,=94 said=20 Amin, a chemistry student.
The election = controversy comes=20 as Iran=92s theocratic government has begun patching = up=20 relations with the West, welcoming European investors = and=20 toying with the idea of letting a United States = congressional=20 delegation visit Iran, which has been under the rule = of=20 anti-American clerics since the 1979 revolution. =
At stake=20 in the upcoming election is whether the country=92s=20 conservatives, who control the nation=92s security = services,=20 intelligence services and judiciary without popular = support,=20 or a relatively powerless but popularly elected = reformist=20 faction, will lead the country.
The Council of = Guardians,=20 said to be a tool of conservative clerics ruling Iran = from the=20 shadows, had likely planned to crush the reformists by = banning=20 them from the elections for a while, said Farshid = Farzin, a=20 political analyst at a Tehran consultancy firm. Farzin = added=20 that the council had even recently dispatched an = emissary,=20 Hassan Rohani, to European capitals to pave the way = for their=20 triumph and attempt to calm any EU worries regarding = the=20 ongoing crisis.
=93The conservative faction is = putting these=20 reformists aside at the same time as they=92re = improving=20 relations with the West,=94 he said.
In a = statement=20 published in the liberal daily Sharq, a student group = pleaded=20 with the Europeans not to recognize the conservatives. =
=93If=20 the authoritarians come to power there will be vast = repression=20 against political and social freedom,=94 said the = statement.=20 =93Are you ready to ignore democracy, human rights, = peace and=20 security for a benefit that won=92t last long?=94 =
Mohammad=20 Khatami, the reformist president twice elected by a=20 significant majority, said backroom talks failed and = that a=20 =93deadlock=94 had ensued.
On Tuesday, there was = word of=20 last-minute negotiations brokered by supreme leader = Ali=20 Khamenei, the successor to revolutionary leader = Ayatollah=20 Ruhollah Khomeini. But many feared the professorial = Khatami=20 would not hold his pledge to cancel the elections. =
=93If he=20 cooperates with the staging of elections =85 his = action is worse=20 than that of the Council of Guardians,=94 Abdullah = Momeni, a=20 student leader, told Iran=92s student news agency. =
The=20 blacklisted MPs include some of Iran=92s most = prominent=20 politicians: Mohammad-Reza the Khatami, deputy speaker = and the=20 president=92s brother; Elahe Koulahi, a well-known = political=20 scientist and leading women=92s rights advocate; = Mohsen=20 Mirdamadi, a prominent publisher; and Reza Youssefian, = an=20 Iran-Iraq war veteran who spent eight years in Saddam=20 Hussein=92s dungeons.
Tarya, a student at Amir = Kabir, vowed=20 to skip the polls.
=93I want to vote for people I = respect,=94=20 she said. =93There=92s a group that=92s bad and = there=92s a group=20 that=92s worse. Now we can=92t even vote for the = bad.=94
In=20 addition to resigning, the reformists might publicly = call for=20 a boycott, though conservatives have warned that = they=92ll crack=20 down on them if they stir up trouble. =93The = conservatives want=20 to totally destroy the reform movement,=94 Youssefian = said. =93We=20 don=92t want to participate in an illegal election.=94 =
But the=20 conservatives, on the eve of Feb. 11 celebrations = marking the=20 25th anniversary of the revolution, have begun a = massive=20 campaign urging people to vote and calling those who = have=20 criticized the process agents of the US and its = =93evil=94=20 designs. Influential Friday prayer leaders also urged = the=20 faithful to vote.
=93All Iranians are religiously = bound to=20 vote,=94 Ayatollah Hashemi Rafsanjani, a former = president and=20 major political power, said during Friday prayers in = Tehran.=20 =93Enemies have launched poisonous propaganda against = the=20 Islamic system since the revolution, but they have = invariably=20 failed to materialize their satanic goals.=94 =
National=20 television networks, controlled by the conservatives, = have=20 been virtually silent on the election controversy,=20 broadcasting instead the usual mix of anti-Israel and=20 anti-American propaganda and soft features.
=93In = the=20 opinion of those responsible for our national networks = we=92re=20 less important than cigar testing, motorcycle misuse = and camel=20 wrestling,=94 reformist Hanif Mazrouie wrote in = Yas-e-Nou, a=20 reformist daily.
Low voter turnout brought = conservative=20 majorities into power during last year=92s local = council=20 election, as the conservatives can usually count at = least 10=20 percent of the vote.
Some traditional families say = they=92ll=20 show up at the polls, if only out of fear of not = obtaining a=20 vote stamp on their identification papers, which could = damage=20 their prospects of traveling abroad, going into higher = education, obtaining a job or social benefits. =
Reformists=20 took control of the presidency and Parliament on a = wave of=20 popular resentment against laws that force women to = cover=20 their heads and judges who jail dissidents on heresy = charges.=20
But the council, which has the power to reject=20 Parliament=92s laws, did so with zeal, voiding over a = third of=20 the legislation passed by the reformists. Conservative = organs=20 such as the daily Kayhan newspaper reported salacious = stories=20 about municipal corruption and economic mismanagement, = blaming=20 the reformist-elected government.
The council = dispatched=20 tens of thousands of agents to dig up dirt on the = candidates.=20 It rejected 3,500 of the 8,200 candidates five = times as=20 many as elections four years ago though it has = since=20 reinstated a fifth of the rejected candidacies of = relative=20 unknowns.
The conservatives need not have fretted. = According to a poll conducted by Iran Economics = magazine in=20 early January, before the election controversy, only = 37=20 percent of eligible Iranians plan to vote.
=93They = don=92t=20 feel like their vote could impact the = country,=94 said=20 Heydar Pourian, the editor of the magazine. =93When = Khatami came=20 to power many thought they could affect their future = lives.=20 Right now they are disappointed. Apathy has = worsened.=94=20

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