Rigged Ballots in Iran - Editorial

[Halle]

The New York Times - January 13, 2004


Iran's religious establishment is trying to grab full control of the next Parliament by arbitrarily disqualifying thousands of candidates, many of them leading reformists, including some 80 current legislators seeking re-election next month.

Candidates have been excluded before, but the sweep of the exclusions announced Sunday by the Guardian Council, a clerically appointed body, vastly exceeds past interference. They would eliminate political competition in scores of contests, handing back to religious conservatives the parliamentary majority that voters overwhelmingly denied them four years ago. Though Iranians are demoralized by how little the reformers have accomplished, they should firmly reject such a travesty of democracy.

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The mullahs may be calculating that if they offer Washington enough concessions on limiting nuclear programs and ending support for terrorists, America will lose interest in pressing for Iranian democracy. The Bush administration has a chance to prove that the mullahs' cynicism is misplaced.


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/13/opinion/13TUE2.html