November 19, 2001	Monday	Ramazan 3, 1422

TEHRAN, Nov 18: A new power struggle is shaking Iran’s political scene, as reformers surrounding President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday accused the nation’s powerful conservatives of “excluding” their candidates for an upcoming by-election which they threatened to boycott.

“Unfortunately, the Guardians Council dismissed a large number of reformist candidates on the grounds of a lack of commitment to the regime, the constitution and the supreme leader,” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reformist Tehran MP Behzad Nabavi told parliament on Sunday.

More than a 100 candidacies, mainly reformist, have filed papers for the northeastern Golestan province election, where seven seats are at stake, but the majority were recently rejected by the conservative elections oversight Guardians Council.

Nabavi, who is considered as parliament spokesman for the pro-reform camp which dominates the chamber, said that “if reformist candidates are turned down, the population will be disappointed and might abstain” on election day.

“If the current situation does not change, and if the council insists on its refusal, the legitimacy of the regime and national interest will be seriously threatened,” Nabavi said warning: “Reformist groups and candidates will walk out and the turnout will drop drastically.”

The parliament seats for the Golestan province were left vacant after seven MPs were killed earlier this year when their aeroplane, which was also carrying the nation’s then transport minister Rahman Dadman, a reformist and close ally of Khatami, crashed.

The Guardians Council, which has the power to veto laws considered not to conform with Shariat, and which can reject election candidates, recently ruled that the majority of the candidates, belonging to the reformist camp, were “ineligible” for the Nov 30 by-elections in the Golestan province.

Supreme leader Khamenei, who controls the nation’s armed forces, appoints the judiciary chief and the head of the state media, as well as six of the 12-man election watchdog, while the remaining six are chosen by the parliament from a list provided by the judiciary chief, currently Ayatollah Mahmud Hashemi Shahrudi.—AFP