TEHRAN, Feb 4: Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled on Wednesday it was the pro-reform government's duty to hold parliamentary polls on schedule despite a crisis sparked by a mass disqualification of candidates.
"The parliamentary elections will be held on Feb 20, without being delayed by even one day," Ayatollah Khamenei told thousands of worshippers in Tehran.
He warned that resignations by officials aimed at impeding the Majlis elections in protest at the barring of reformist candidates were "against the law and prohibited by Islam", at the risk of heavy penalties.
Several resignations have been announced among ministers, deputy ministers and provincial governors, while 125 MPs said at the weekend they were quitting, depriving the Majlis of a quorum.
"It is the duty of the government to organize the elections and nobody can, in dispute, fail to carry out their legal duty and dispense with their responsibilities," said the supreme guide of the country.
Reformists had called for a delay in polling after the conservative Guardians Council vetting body ruled out some 2,500 of 8,000 potential candidates, most of them reformists and including 87 sitting MPs.
Ayatollah Khamenei expressed optimism that a compromise solution would be found between the rival camps in the political crisis, blaming a "plot" by Iran's unspecified enemies.
"There is no knot that can not be untied ... as shown by the revolution which has overcome every obstacle placed in its path," he said, referring to the revolution that toppled the shah 25 years ago.-AFP
