TEHRAN, Jan 23: Iranian Guardian Council chief Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati said on Friday that it was willing to reverse any "mistakes" made when it banned thousands of liberal candidates from running in parliamentary elections.

The council's move to bar nearly half of 8,200 hopefuls from standing in the Feb 20 vote has prompted dozens of top government officials to threaten to resign.

Reformist parties have said they may boycott the election. Ayatollah Jannati said the 12-member panel, which has received more than 3,000 complaints from disqualified candidates, most of whom are reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami, would inform candidates of any changes by Jan 30.

"There are misunderstandings about the Guardian Council's work," he told a Friday prayers congregation here. "Mistakes are possible. We neither insist on mistakes nor would we violate the law," he said in the sermon which was broadcast live on state radio.

Many of those barred from standing were accused by the council of lacking loyalty to Iran's constitution and the system of clerical rule. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has urged the council to review the bans and said that hundreds who had been allowed to run in previous elections should be allowed to stand again.

Among those barred from running are around 80 of the 290 standing parliamentarians. They have held a 13-day sit-in at parliament to protest the mass disqualifications.

Reformists accuse the council of trying to help conservatives reverse their 2000 parliamentary election defeat to liberal candidates. United States and European Union officials have criticized the vetting process.

MPs protesting at parliament vowed to continue their sit-in as long as "people's right for free elections is not observed," the ISNA news agency reported.

A coalition of reformist parties is due to hold a meeting early next week to decide the next stage of their protest, which includes dawn-to-dusk fasting by the MPs. Most analysts expect a negotiated compromise will be reached to allow the elections to go ahead.

A spokesman for the council said on Thursday that roughly 260 barred candidates had been readmitted to the election race and more revisions would be announced in coming days.-Reuters