- News>
- World
More Iran election bans to be reversed-lawmakers
Tehran, Feb 04: a hardline watchdog plans to reinstate some reformist candidates it had barred from standing in this month`s parliamentary election in a bid to resolve Iran`s worst political crisis in years, reformist lawmakers said today.
''It seems that they are going to qualify some of the rejected candidates,'' one of the legislators said. ''They are trying to reach a compromise,'' said another.
The lawmakers said the compromise deal emerged from talks today involving top officials including supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and reformist President Mohammad Khatami.
With the dispute over the February 20 election appearing to be nearing a climax, lawmakers had said on Tuesday that Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, had rejected government calls for the vote to be postponed.
Khatami's reformist government is outraged by the move by the Guardian Council, an unelected oversight body dominated by religious hardliners, to bar more than 2,000 aspiring candidates from standing in the election.
Most of those barred are reformist allies of Khatami, including more than 80 current members of the 290-seat parliament.
Bureau Report