As parliamentary elections draw closer Iran's political crisis deepens, reports Rasha Saad Iranian officials should have been gearing up for celebrations marking the silver jubilee of the Islamic Revolution in Iran this week. Instead, the event was overshadowed by the country's worst political crisis since 1979 as Iran's two political camps continued to row over parliamentary elections. The crisis is now in its third week. Enraged by the Guardian Council's declaration that more than 2,000 would- be lawmakers were unfit to stand for the February elections 120 reformist parliamentarians resigned from the Iranian Parliament on Sunday. The resignations were timed to coincide with the 25th anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's return from exile. The crisis began in early January when the conservative Guardian Council, whose 12 members are appointed by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, disqualified more than 3,600 of the 8,200 candidates -- mostly reformers -- who filed papers to run in the February poll. After protests, and the intervention of Khamenei, the Council restored 1,160 low-profile candidates to the list on Friday. Over 2,400 reformist party leaders and prominent politicians remain barred. The five ministers entrusted last week to reach a compromise with the Guardian Council over the disqualifications reported back to the cabinet that their efforts had failed. The reformists accuse the Guardian Council of barring reformist candidates in an attempt to strengthen the conservative camp following parliamentary elections. The council denies any political motives, arguing that the disqualified candidates did not meet the legal criteria to stand for elections. But more than 80 of those disqualified had already sat in parliament, having been vetted in the past. Many lawmakers who won seats in parliament in 2000 have been using the chamber as a platform to press for social and political reforms, much to the chagrin of hard-liners. As the 20 February parliamentary elections draw closer, new issues are coming to the fore. In a damning statement read out during a stormy parliamentary session broadcast live on national radio on Sunday, reformist deputies accused hard- liners of seeking to impose a religious dictatorship. "We cannot continue to be present in a parliament that is not capable of defending the rights of the people and which is unable to prevent elections in which the people cannot choose their representatives," they said. The statement, read out by prominent reformist MPs Mohsen Mirdamadi and Rajab-Ali Mazroui, accused conservatives of "installing an Islam comparable to that of the Taliban". In an attempt to turn up the heat on hard-liners, Iran's largest reform party said on Monday that it would boycott the controversial elections and called for the vote to be postponed. "We have no hope that a fair, free and legitimate election can be held on 20 February. So in the current circumstances we cannot participate," Mohamed Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) Party, who is also the Iranian president's brother, told a news conference. A vote on 20 February in current conditions would "sound the end of the reform movement", Reza Khatami warned. Even if reinstated, the reformist candidates would not have enough time to organise their campaigns, he said. An emergency cabinet meeting on Sunday backed calls for a postponement, with cabinet ministers vowing not to hold sham elections. "An overnight emergency meeting of the cabinet unanimously agreed to support a call by the Interior Ministry to postpone elections," Government Spokesman Abdullah Ramezanzadeh said. The council, however, vowed to hold the elections as scheduled. Analysts believe that the reformists' mass walkout was largely a tactical ploy, given the proximity of the election and the lengthy case-by-case process needed to confirm the resignations. Hard-liners, however, did not take the reformists' moves lightly. They have recognised that the move could paralyse parliament and have threatened to prosecute any official who hampers the vote by resigning. Conservative Party elections official, Hojatoleslam Ahmed Azimizadeh, spoke of the dire consequences for those who boycotted the organisation of the poll. "This sort of action against a legal procedure can be viewed as a lack of loyalty towards the Islamic Republic," he said. Azimizadeh heads the Electoral Control Commission for greater Tehran that is answerable to the Guardian Council. Worse, there are signs that it might turn violent. On Sunday a fake bomb was discovered at the entrance to the Iranian Parliament after parliamentary press officers received threats of an attack by telephone. After searching the building officials uncovered a suspicious package that contained electronic equipment but no explosive charge. On the same day two assailants ransacked the offices of Akbar Alami, a reformist Iranian MP. Armed with knives they broke into Alami's offices in the northwestern city of Tabriz, scrawling death threats on the walls. Unlike most of his reformist colleagues Alami was allowed to run in the elections, but he is still among those who resigned on Sunday. Alami said he had received several telephone threats in recent days demanding that he end his campaign. Reformers now believe that the only way out of the deadlock is another intervention in the crisis by Khamenei. "We are in a deadlock," reformist parliamentary speaker, Mehdi Karoubi, who has been swamped with resignation letters, said. "The Supreme Guide must intervene to solve this problem." "It's the leader's time to step in now. Although he often leaves things until the very last moment," said one political analyst who requested anonymity.
