Ban on Iran reformists reversed
CNN:
Iran's hardline Guardian Council watchdog has reversed its ban on two reformists excluded from presidential elections on June 17, easing a row that had sparked some calls for a boycott of the vote. The reinstatement of former Education Minister Mostafa Moin and Vice President for Sports Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh on Tuesday raised the number of candidates to eight and made the election outcome harder to predict. It followed the intervention of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word in all state matters. Khamenei took the unusual step on Monday of urging the Guardian Council to overturn its disqualification of the two reformists. Khamenei has said a broad range of candidates is essential to encourage the high voter turnout needed to send a message to Iran's enemies at a time when the Islamic state faces heightened pressure from Washington which accuses Tehran of building nuclear weapons and backing terrorism.This seems to be a positive development. I'll be keeping an eye on Iran over the next month or so, it may turn out to be a very interesting election season there.
posted by Dave Justus | 5/24/2005 09:05:00 AM
2 Comments:
Two candidates out of over a thousand struck down isn't anything to write home about. The Guardian's Council won't take any steps designed to bring real elections to Iran. The whole goal is to simply make it look plausibly democratic.
I agree, but the very fact that they feel pressure to be plausibly democratic is a good thing.
Moin seems to be the real deal as far as reformers go as well.
There are numerous factors in place in Iran right now, and it is difficult to predict how things will turn out, but I wouldn't be surprised if the next couple of months have some very signifigant events.
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