About 3,000 prospective candidates, most of them reformists seeking democratic changes within Iran's hard-line ruling Islamic establishment, were disqualified from running in the upcoming parliamentary elections, officials and party leaders said Wednesday.
The mass disqualification of reformist candidates removes the biggest rival to hard-liners _ including those allied with embattled President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad _ vying for the parliament seats in the crucial March 14 election.
Out of an initial 7,200 prospective candidates registered, some 4,200 remain in the running and must still be vetted by the Islamic regime.
Parliamentary elections are seen as a key test of Ahmadinejad's hold on power and a harbinger for the 2009 presidential elections. The hard-line president has come under increasing criticism _ from both allies and opponents _ about his failure to fix Iran's economic problems, which have most recently led to heating gas shortages.
The announcement _ made on the front pages of reformist newspapers and confirmed by several party officials _ provoked widespread condemnation from reformists. Earlier, former President Mohammad Khatami _ himself a reformist _ warned of possible disqualifications and said the government had no right to deprive Iranians the right to run in elections.
The government, meanwhile, said it mailed letters to prospective candidates informing them of their disqualification, but did not mention the 3,000 figure. In Tehran, some 400 out of 1,400 hopefuls were disqualified, the government said in a statement carried by the official IRNA news agency.
"Worrying reports have come true. The number of candidates disqualified is surprising," said Abdollah Naseri, spokesman for an umbrella group of 21 reformist factions.
Hardest hit in the vetting process are the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Iran's largest reformist party, and the Islamic Revolution Mojahedeen Organization (IRMO), another reformist faction.
"All prospective candidates fielded by IIPF and IRMO in Tehran have been rejected," Saeed Shariati, a top Front figure said Wednesday. "Of 200 IIPF hopefuls registered throughout Iran, 190 of them have been disqualified."
Many of those disqualified were key lawmakers or cabinet ministers during the tenure of Khatami, who is a reformist.
Esmaeil Gerami Moghaddam, spokesman of the reformist National Confidence Party, said more than 70 percent of its hopefuls were rejected by authorities monitoring the elections. The front page Wednesday of the reformist daily newspaper Etemad, which means confidence in Farsi, read: "3,000 disqualified."
Tehran deputy governor, Hossein Tala, said 28 percent of hopefuls were disqualified in Tehran alone, the official IRNA news agency reported Wednesday. Of the total 1,403 prospective candidates registered in Tehran, more than 390 were disqualified by the executive committees affiliated with the Interior Ministry, Tala said, according to IRNA.
The hard-line constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, will announce a final list of approved candidates on March 5, leaving only a week for campaigning.
The disqualifications were reminiscent of 2004, when the Council barred thousands of reformists from running in that year's parliament elections, allowing hard-liners to regain control of the 290-seat legislative body. At the time, reformists denounced the elections as a "historical fiasco."
Key members of the Council are hand-picked by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on all state matters. The supreme leader largely supported the Council in the 2004 bitter dispute.
The Guardian Council's chief, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a key Ahmadinejad ally, said last month that any candidate determined by the Council to be disloyal to the principles of Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution would be barred from running.
Ali Reza Afshar, a top Interior Ministry official in charge of elections, said those disqualified have the right to appeal.
"Instead of resorting to political fuss and taking the issue to the press, those disqualified can appeal through legal channels," Afshar was quoted by IRNA as saying Wednesday.
Afshar didn't rule out reversing some disqualified candidates, but reformists fear there won't be any major reversals.
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