Date Posted: Monday, February 23, 2004

Reformist MPs in Iran's parliament protest elections in which many from their ranks were banned from running for office.

TEHRAN, Feb 23 (MASNET & News Agencies) - A win by conservatives in Iran's parliamentary elections sparked a fresh round of political in-fighting after the controversial polls saw a record low voter turnout and were the subject of tough international criticism.

Reformists branded the election rigged and many boycotted it after the un-elected conservative Guardian Council banned 2,500 mainly reformist candidates, including 80 sitting lawmakers, prompting reformers to widely boycott the vote.

"Unfortunately, this was not a free election," said Mostafa Tajzadeh, a leader of the main reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, which boycotted the poll. "Our belief from the outset that the conservatives would win was proved right."

Scuffles broke out in the Iranian parliament as reformist MPs began resigning one by one following their defeat in polls that they were largely barred from contesting. Some expressed fears for their safety, reports Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"I resign," female reformist MP Fatemeh Haghighatjou said Monday, "because a staged, unfair and uncompetitive election was held with the aim of yielding an obedient Majlis [parliament]."

"They do not want a republic, but a Taliban-style Islam," she charged, referring to the regime in Afghanistan that was unseated by a U.S.-led coalition in late 2001.

"Victory in a competition without rivals is not epic but a historical fiasco," Rasoul Mehrparvar said during an open session of parliament broadcast live on state-run radio, reports the Associated Press (AP).

Mehrparvar, one of the lawmakers barred from seeking re-election, said hard-liners must await God's punishment.

"I hope you will be questioned in the Judgment Day before God because you are not responsive to the people in this world," he said, addressing the head of the Guardian Council.

"Restricting people's choice and imposing certain candidates on them is contrary to the constitution," said Hossein Ansarirad, a cleric and reformist lawmaker. "... Through disqualifying more than 2,000 well-known candidates, the Guardian Council prevented candidates from being chosen and the nation from choosing freely. This is a violation of people's sovereignty."

In Brussels, European Union foreign ministers expressed "deep regret" and called the polls a "setback for democracy," saying it made "a genuine democratic choice by the Iranian people impossible.

"This interference was a setback for the democratic process in Iran," the statement said, calling on Iran to "return to the path of reform and democratization."

The elections produced an expected large majority for hardliners and conservatives, but they accused the reformist-run Interior Ministry of releasing a false low turnout figure in order to discredit their win.

Interior Ministry figures showed conservatives won 133 of the first 194 provincial seats declared, deputy parliament speaker Behzad Nabavi said. A total of 289 seats were at stake, reports Reuters.

The hardline Guardians Council accused the reformist-run Interior Ministry of "playing with figures" to lower the politically sensitive turnout rate.

The Council contested the official 50.57 percent participation rate given for the polls, the lowest for a major election in the 25-year history of the Islamic republic, and claimed that the real figure was closer to 60 percent.

Turnout became a central issue in the polls, with many seeing the figure as a barometer of public support for the regime.

A drop in voter turnout was seen by reformists as public backing for their drive to weaken the almost limitless controls of the theocracy, reports the AP.

Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said voting was a "religious duty", while Ayatollah Ahmad Janati, head of the Guardians Council, said "voting is as important as praying".

And although state television, on its six national channels, repeatedly backed up their calls, the turnout was still 17 percent lower than the last parliamentary elections in 2000.

In the capital Tehran, turnout was just 28 percent.

Reformist lawmaker Ali Shakurirad, banned from standing again, told a news conference the fact that half the nation had not voted and more than 70 percent had stayed home in Tehran was a big defeat for the hardline clerics, reports Reuters.

But the dispute is unlikely to be more than a temporary distraction from the result - a victory for conservatives, an end to Iran's often traumatic experiment with political and social reforms and the isolation of reformist President Mohammad Khatami.

Conservatives also countered that, when compared to many Western democracies, a 50 percent turnout was perfectly respectable.

The Guardian Council said that by voting in large numbers Iranians had "foiled all the plots and plans of the enemies of religion and the nation, including the Great Satan, America."

The lowest turnout for a parliamentary election since the 1979 Islamic Revolution was 53 percent in 1980, reports Reuters.

As the vote count neared its end, a blend of hardliners, conservatives and independents - a label under which many other right-wingers have stood - were set to replace the noisy but largely ineffectual reformist-held parliament.

The Interior Ministry said counting was complete in all but three of Iran's 207 electoral districts, many of which return more than one deputy to the new parliament, which will take office at the end of May.

Of 198 seats allocated in the 290-member chamber, only around 40 went to reformists, according to an examination by AFP of the voting lists, which make no mention of a candidate's political leanings.

The pro-reform camp had been able to contest just over half of the seats up for grabs.

At least 125 seats were won by known hardliners, conservatives or so-called centrists, with the rest going to those campaigning on an independent ticket, as many other right-wingers have chosen to do. Five seats are reserved for religious minorities.

In addition, preliminary results put the main conservative bloc - the Builders of an Islamic Iran - on track to win all 30 of Tehran's seats.

A second round is needed for 55 seats, after no single candidate managed to win 25 percent of votes cast.

There was not one woman among the first 194 lawmakers elected. There were 13 in the outgoing parliament, reports Reuters.

Iran's reformers had won a landslide majority in the Majlis in the 2000 elections.

But they were subsequently hit with mounting criticism for their failure to deliver greater democracy in the face of opposition from powerful conservatives in the courts or political oversight bodies.

The main conservative party that did well in the polls pitched a pragmatic program centered on economic recovery, with Gholam-Ali Hadad-Adel - head of the Builders of an Islamic Iran - saying he wanted to see Iran become an "Islamic Japan".