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PAS : KE ARAH PEMERINTAHAN ISLAM YANG ADIL
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Conservatives could stymie Iran's reformist parliament
February 23, 2000
TEHRAN, Iran -- Despite reformers' commanding lead in parliamentary elections, members
of the country's conservative Islamic leadership said Tuesday that major policy
changes are unlikely to be enacted.
Candidates running in support of President Mohammad Khatami's reform efforts have won
141 of the 195 races decided by Tuesday. Conservatives have won 44 seats, while
independents have won 10. Another 95 seats remain to be decided, and at least 60
elections will have to be decided by runoffs.
Khatami, who came to power in a landslide victory in 1997, had promised social and
political freedoms to Iranians tired of decades of strict Islamic rule. The
conservative-dominated parliament has so far thwarted his efforts, impeaching his
interior minister and constantly summoning other officials to complain about how they
were doing their jobs.
A more moderate parliament is expected to introduce wide-ranging legal reforms and
clear away legal obstacles to Khatami's program. The reformers' victory -- led by the
president's brother, Mohammadreza Khatami -- has inspired hopes of greater civil
liberties in the Islamic society among secular Iranians, and of greater openness to
Western countries.
"What is important is the rule of law and judgment of the people, and the election
clarified the desires of people," said Mohammadreza Khatami, the country's leading
parliamentary candidate.
The proposed changes he announced Tuesday include a guarantee of press freedoms and an
end to the ban on watching international television broadcasts.
Hard-liners control legislative roadblocks
But conservatives reminded the public of the constitutional limits on parliament, and
the clerical state's founding religious laws.
The hard-liners still wield power through key institutions such as the Guardians
Council, which must approve all legislation. Additionally, supreme power lies with the
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's spiritual leader and the conservatives' main backer.
'The losers were those who tried to separate the people from the system,' says
conservative Nateq-Nouri
"The majority of those elected to the next parliament are committed to the Islamic
republic. They are not the reformers America thinks they are," conservative lawmaker
Morteza Nabavi said.
Voter turnout was high enough that poll hours in Friday's balloting had to be
extended. Conservatives hailed the turnout as an indication of popular support for the
Islamic system established after the 1979 revolution that deposed Shah Mohammad Reza
Pahlavi.
"The losers were those who tried to separate the people from the system," said Ali
Akbar Nateq-Nouri, conservative speaker of the outgoing parliament, who did not seek a
new term. "Those who voted believe in the system and its principles and values."
U.S. offers hope for reconciliation
Half of Iran's 62 million people are under 25. The country suffers from more than 20
percent unemployment and high inflation. U.S. sanctions remain in place two decades
after the fall of the U.S.-backed shah and the yearlong occupation of the U.S.
Embassy.
Mohammadreza Khatami said he wants to work toward ending those sanctions, but he said
that U.S. officials must take "practical steps" before Iran would respond.
"The United States supported the totalitarian regime of the shah," he told reporters
Tuesday. "And now that Iran has become one of the most free nations, it continues its
policy of sanctions and continues its baseless claims against Iran."
U.S. officials have welcomed the parliamentary elections in Iran as a historic vote
for greater openness and freedom, raising hopes of a rapprochement after more then 20
years of hostility.
"It is our hope that this mandate will set Iran on a course towards a more
constructive and a new role in the region, one which eventually leads to Iran's full
political and economic reintegration into the international community," State
Department spokesman James Rubin said.
Angelfire for your free web-based e-mail. http://www.angelfire.com
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