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Iran's President threatens to resign

Iranian MPs continue their sit-in protests on Tuesday for the third consecutive day at the parliament in Tehran. PHOTO: EPA

Iran's president told 27 provincial governors who threatened to resign that he may join their walkout unless conservatives reverse a decision barring pro-reform candidates from elections, a government official said.

President Mohammad Khatami, meeting with the governors, condemned the Guardian Council's decision to bar more than 3,000 candidates from taking part in Feb. 20 elections.

The ban includes some 80 sitting lawmakers, and legislators say all of them are reformist. State broadcast media, which are controlled by hard-liners, say the candidates lacked "the necessary legal qualifications."

A senior official in the president's office said on Tuesday that he heard Khatami tell the governors that he supported their decision and it was possible that he might join them.

"Either we stay on all together or we leave all together," the official quoted Khatami as telling the governors.

Iranian state television, which the hard-liners control, quoted the reformist president as telling the governors: "What happened during the process of disqualifying individuals was not right."

The report quoted Khatami as saying: "I believe that all of us will have to be strong. If one day we were asked to leave the arena, then all of us must do so."

Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh said on his Web site on Tuesday that several senior government officials believe the decision will impede their work. Vice President Mohammad Sattarifar also said on Monday that if the government can't protect "legitimate freedoms" including fair elections, it might step down.

Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has pledged to intervene if the crisis is not resolved, but has urged complainants to use legal channels to pursue their case. Disqualified candidates have the right to appeal.

Several reformist lawmakers blamed Khamenei himself for the disqualifications by the council, an unelected constitutional watchdog. About 8,200 people filed papers to run for the 290-seat legislature.

"Guardian Council members are hand-picked by him. It's not logical to think council members make decisions without their leader's support," said Ali Tajernia, one of the legislators barred from running again. Another reformist lawmaker, Shahrbanou Amani, also blamed Khamenei.

Some reformists have threatened to boycott the elections if the disqualifications stand.

The largest reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, issued a statement on Tuesday saying the disqualifications would lead to a "sham parliament."

"Disqualifications deny the people their constitutional right to choose and be chosen," the statement said.

The US and the EU have also warned the disqualifications would jeopardize the Iranian parliament's legitimacy.

For a third consecutive day on Tuesday, about 90 legislators staged a sit-in in the lobby of the parliament building. The lawmakers took off their shoes and sat on the floor while taking turns to address the media from a podium.

The elections are seen as a crucial test for Iran's reformers, whose popularity has waned because of their perceived failure to deliver on promises of liberalization. Hard-liners long have used their control of unelected bodies -- such as the judiciary and the Guardian Council -- to block reform.
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