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Iran reformists barred from polls
From - http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3386771.stm
"Hundreds of reformist candidates in Iran have been barred from standing in general elections next month by an unelected conservative body.
Reformists walked out of parliament on Sunday to protest against the ruling - they also plan to hold a sit-in.
More than half of the 1,700 candidates registered have reportedly been disqualified by the Guardian Council.
They include the brother of President Khatami, who is head of the country's largest reform party, the IIPF.
The 12-member Guardian Council, made up of six clerics and six Islamic lawyers, is empowered to ensure parliament's actions comply with Islamic principles.
Prominent Iranian reformist MP Mohsen Mirdamadi accused Tehran's hardliners of staging a "coup d'etat" by "non-military means".
"If this decision is upheld, there will not be elections but designations," he said.
Two other senior members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, Behzad Nabavi and Fatemeh Haqiqatjou, and well-known womens' rights activist Elaheh Koulaiee, have also been told they cannot stand.
The BBC's Jim Muir, in Tehran, says President Khatami is under pressure from reformers to resign if appeals against the council's decision fail."
````How can people go on in Iran putting up with this nonsense from the Islamic clerics. Iran to me has a very beautiful culture and I would love to visit one day. These disgusting actions on the part of the hardline conservatives is pathetic, I mentioned a while back that the Iranians will see right past this sham that the conservative, unelected religous "leaders" have in place to maintain control over every facet of government. It is these kinds of stories that piss me off, where is the voice of the E.U. who was cooperating with Iran on nuclear negotiations a few weeks back denouncing this fraud called an election process, we know where the U.S. stands. The E.U. is probably too afraid to speak up for fear of alleged interference in domestic politics and yet they want to be global powers. You don't accomplish that by being silent to corrupt and despicable governments such as in Iran.
All that the people in Iran asks for is political pressure to be placed on the conservatives hardliners so as to give the reformers a chance at actually doing just that, reforming. Interesting to see where this situation goes from here in Iran.
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