Prague, 26 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iran's reformist government says it may refuse to organize next month's parliamentary elections after hard-liners have disqualified thousands of candidates from standing.
Iran's Guardians Council has rejected an electoral reform bill aimed at limiting the grounds for disallowing candidates in parliamentary elections. Protesting deputies say they are considering their next moves in discussions with the government of President Mohammad Khatami.
Tehran, 26 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iran's hard-line Guardians Council has reportedly rejected an electoral reform bill aimed at reversing a ban on liberal candidates taking part in elections next month.
Tehran, 25 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iran's parliament today approved a bill that seeks to overturn the disqualification of thousands of liberal candidates in next month's parliamentary elections.
Tehran, 23 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The head of Iran's hard-line Guardian Council today said the council is willing to reverse any "mistakes" made when it banned several thousand liberal candidates from running in parliamentary elections.
Prague, 23 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- A review of media commentary today finds a discussion of European Union enlargement and some of its likely economic effects; Germany's offer to send medical and humanitarian aid to Iraq; new initiatives for promoting reform in the Middle East; Iraq's "nascent" internal political process; and the ongoing standoff between Iran's reformist legislators and its conservative mullahs.
Tehran, 23 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The head of Iran's Guardians Council, which barred more than 3,000 candidates in next month's parliamentary elections, said today the council will be "lenient to candidates" when reviewing its decision.
Prague, 22 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Legislators in Tehran are in the 12th day of a sit-in in parliament, protesting a decision by the conservative Guardians Council to exclude more than 3,000 reformist candidates from standing in 20 February parliamentary polls.
Davos, 21 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says that he expects a conservative-reformist confrontation over next month's parliamentary elections in Iran to reach a settlement.
The large-scale disqualification of pro-reform candidates for parliament by Iran's hard-line Guardians Council earlier this month has led to a major political crisis. This is not the first time that the pro-reform parliament has clashed with the influential Guardians Council. The constitutional watchdog has rejected most of the pro-reform bills passed by parliament.
Two years ago, in his annual State of the Union address, U.S. President George W. Bush called Iraq, Iran, and North Korea an "axis of evil" that threatened their regions, and the world, with unconventional weapons. Since then, the United States has led a war to depose Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, and Libya and Iran have taken concrete steps to cooperate with the international community over nuclear weapons and energy programs. Last night, in this year's State of the Union speech, Bush said his stern policy, realized militarily in Iraq, has had beneficial results beyond the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.
Tehran, 20 January 2004 (RFE/RL) -- Iran's Guardians Council has reinstated 200 of more than 3,000 reformist candidates that the conservative constitutional watchdog had barred from participating in elections next month.
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