The Daily Star - Politics - Iranian conservatives split camps ahead of elections

The Daily Star - Politics - Iranian conservatives split camps ahead of elections: "Iranian conservatives split camps ahead of elections" A group of Iranian conservatives critical of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is presenting a rival list for parliamentary elections, opening a split in the conservative camp, the ISNA news agency reported on Sunday. The Broad and Popular Coalition of Principalists will put forward 30 candidates to contest all the available seats in Tehran on March 14, its spokesman Hossein Mozafar told the agency. The list has the backing of three heavyweight conservative figures - former nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani, ex-Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezaie and Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf. All three have been critical of Ahmadinejad. The main conservative list, the United Principalists Front, includes the Sweet Scent of Service faction of Ahmadinejad loyalists. "A list of 37 people has been finalized and approved by the coalition's central committee, and we will in the coming days choose 30 people for the Tehran list," said Mozafar, a former education minister. "Forming a separate list can create a livelier climate and allow the creation of a stronger Parliament," he said, adding that the other list lacked "acceptable and experienced people." The preliminary list published by ISNA included prominent conservative MPs who have on occasion been bitterly critical of Ahmadinejad, including Mohammad Khoshchehreh and Reza Talaie-Nik. Confusingly, some candidates will stand on both conservative lists - a common practice in Iranian politics. This could be the case with Parliament Speaker Gholam Ali Hadad Adel and Larijani himself. Larijani, who stepped down as top nuclear negotiator last year because of "ideological differences" with Ahmadinejad, had warned his fellow conservatives last week that a rival list was likely. "Either our friends use the time left to them to correct the list to allow it more of a chance or they show intransigence, and then the electorate will have to choose between their list and other lists," he told Mehr news agency. Reformists have complained that their chances of mounting a challenge to the conservative dominance of Parliament have been hit by mass disqualifications in the initial vetting. On Saturday, Iran's vetting body the Council of Guardians said it will allow more than 4,500 candidates to run for Parliament next month but that 2,200 additional candidates have been disqualified, the official news agency IRNA reported. "Out of 7,597 candidates who registered ... more than 4,500 have qualified" for the March 14 legislative poll, it quoted the body's spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei as saying. "The Council of Guardians disqualified 2,200 candidates." Kadkhodaei said that 310 candidates had pulled out and 569 had not filed any objection to being disqualified. The council, which has the final say in the vetting procedure, has reinstated more than 1,000 candidates who did not make it through the initial screening. The spokesman of a broad reformist coalition, which brings together 30 pro-reform groups, said on Saturday they could only compete for 90 seats in the 290-seat Parliament. "Many of our candidates were disqualified," Abdollah Nasseri told AFP. "We are going to introduce a list [of candidates] for these 90 seats but not the rest." - Agencies Tags: Former, Guardians, Iran, Nuclear, Parliament, Tehran, War Printable Version Send to a friend