Iran's largest reformist student movement denounced President Mohammad Khatami on Sunday for giving in to hard-line demands to hold a legislative election he himself has called unfair.
The Office for Fostering Unity called on Iranians to boycott Friday's election, from which about 2,400 reformist candidates were barred by hard-liners. Liberal lawmakers and academics have dubbed the election a sham, reformist parties have boycotted the polls and hundreds of approved candidates withdrew their names in protest.
"Through accepting to hold this sham election ... Khatami effectively gives priority to implementing illegal demands of unelected conservatives at the cost of slaughtering justice, freedom and people's rights," the office said in a statement.
A reluctant Khatami gave in to an order from Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to hold the vote but said it would be unfair and give people little motivation to participate.
"Dialogue to reform the establishment in the way Khatami has defined has reached a dead end," the statement said.
"The absolute power of appointed institutions and their resistance against the voted reform movement has revealed the inefficiency of reforms under the existing structure of the establishment," the statement said.
Meanwhile, prominent jailed reformer Hashem Aghajari called on the nation to send a message to the ruling establishment by boycotting the polls.
"The sham election is the end of reforms within the establishment. The Iranian nation has learned now that there is no hope of a democratic change under the ruling system," Aghajari wrote in a letter from Evin prison, where he is serving a four-year term for questioning clerical rule.
The letter was made available by Aghajari's wife, Zahra Behnoodi.
Aghajari said the solution to the deadlock was "referendum, amending the constitution and bringing fundamental changes in the ruling system."
Iran's biggest political crisis in years was triggered when clerics of the Guardian Council -- an unelected hard-line body that vets candidates -- last month banned more than 3,600 candidates, nearly all of them supporters of efforts to expand Western-style democracy and loosen strict interpretations of Islamic codes in areas such as social activities and the media.
About 130 members of parliament resigned in protest and almost all reformist parties, including the largest -- the Islamic Iran Participation Front -- have announced a boycott of the elections.
The Guardian Council, whose members are hand-picked by Khamenei, reinstated about 1,200 candidates in stages after sit-ins and protests by liberal politicians and backers. The rest remained blackballed -- all leading reformists, including 80 sitting lawmakers.
Since campaigning began Thursday, more than 607 candidates have withdrawn from the race, the Interior Ministry said. Some apparently pulled out to protest the disqualifications, while others hoped to increase chances of hard-line candidates running under the new name of "Developers of Islamic Iran."
Prominent hard-liners Habibollah Asgaroladi and Assadollah Badamchian said they withdrew because "we consider Developers of Islamic Iran as ourselves."
The group consists of extremists within the hard-line camp; reformers charge that the group's 30 candidates were chosen by Khamenei.
A government survey predicted that only about 30 percent of 46 million eligible voters would take part in the polls.
A low voter turnout would be widely interpreted as a powerful sign of support for the nation's reformist politicians.
Still, in the absence of rivals, conservatives are expected to easily win.
A ship that appears to be taking on the identity of a scrapped gas carrier exited the Strait of Hormuz on Friday, showing how strategies to get through the waterway are evolving as the Middle East war progresses. The vessel identifying as liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier Jamal left the Strait on Friday morning, ship-tracking data show. However, the same tanker was also recorded as having beached at an Indian demolition yard in October last year, where it is being broken up, according to market participants and port agent’s reports. The ship claiming to be Jamal is likely a zombie vessel that
Japan is to downgrade its description of ties with China from “one of its most important” in an annual diplomatic report, according to a draft reviewed by Reuters, as relations with Beijing worsen. This year’s Diplomatic Bluebook, which Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s government is expected to approve next month, would instead describe China as an important neighbor and the relationship as “strategic” and “mutually beneficial.” The draft cites a series of confrontations with Beijing over the past year, including export controls on rare earths, radar lock-ons targeting Japanese military aircraft and increased pressure around Taiwan. The shift in tone underscores a deterioration
LAW CONSTRAINTS: The US has been pressing allies to send warships to open the Strait, but Tokyo’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution Japan could consider deploying its military for minesweeping in the Strait of Hormuz if a ceasefire is reached in the war on Iran, Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi said yesterday. “If there were to be a complete ceasefire, hypothetically speaking, then things like minesweeping could come up,” Motegi said. “This is purely hypothetical, but if a ceasefire were established and naval mines were creating an obstacle, then I think that would be something to consider.” Japan’s military actions are limited under its postwar pacifist constitution, but 2015 security legislation allows Tokyo to use its Self-Defense Forces overseas if an attack,
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) yesterday faced a regional election battle in Rhineland-Palatinate, now held by the center-left Social Democratic Party (SPD). Merz’s CDU has enjoyed a narrow poll lead over the SPD — their coalition partners at the national level — who have ruled the mid-sized state for 35 years. Polling third is the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), which spells a greater threat to the two centrist parties in several state elections in September in the country’s ex-communist east. The picturesque state of Rhineland-Palatinate, bordering France, Belgium and Luxembourg and with a population of about 4 million,
RSS