TEHRAN, Feb 17: A campaign by blacklisted reformist candidates to shun Friday's Iranian parliamentary election gained an illustrious endorsement on Tuesday when Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi said she would not vote.

Ms Ebadi, who was awarded the 2003 peace prize for her services to the cause of human rights, said she would not cast a ballot because of the mass disqualification of reformist candidates.

"I will not vote myself because I don't know those who have been qualified. I'm not ready to vote for someone I don't know," the feminist lawyer said in an interview with Reuters.

"The first principle of democracy is that people should have the right to vote for anyone they want," she said. Her comment was a blow to the efforts by conservatives to mobilize a big turnout on Friday. few well-known names.

Shirin Ebadi said the outgoing reformist-dominated parliament had made little progress in improving human rights because the Guardians Council had vetoed key legislation. For example, parliament had voted to join an international convention outlawing discrimination against women but the Council had blocked it. Khatami's power to effect change was limited by the constitution, she said.

Ms Ebadi suggested the constitution, which enshrined the power of the religious establishment over democratic institutions, would have to be amended before serious progress was possible. -AFP