KHATAMI AND RAFSANJANI FIRED FIRST ELECTION SALVOS
TEHRAN 1ST Feb. (IPS) Iranian President Mohammad Khatami fired the first salvo of the electoral campaign by calling on all Iranian, particularly the young and the women, his two most important power-bases to take part massively in the coming elections, due 18 February.
Speaking during ceremonies held at the shrine if grand ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini on the start of the ten days of "Dawn" ceremonies marking the victory of the Islamic revolution of 1979, hojatoleslam Khatami said all those eligible for voting should come out on election day to make sure their buletin will play a decisive role in determining the destiny of the nation.
He said if the people favoured their leaders and wants to their government to go ahead with the reforms and bring honour to them and their nation, they should take dynamic participation at the coming elections.
In his remarks, Mr. Khatami also noted that the late founder of the Islamic Republic would always insisted that the people's votes were the decisive criterion and urged political formations to address the issue of elections with a positive regard, letting not grudges, if any, to diminish election enthusiasm.
"Those who feel any of their rights have been violated should defend their rights and the government will do its part, he added", he promised.
As predicted by observers and analysts, his call to the people, mostly to the young who make the bulk of the voters was criticised by his opponents.
Addressing the same ceremonies a day latter, ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani questioned the sincerity of certain individuals and groups who, in their recent political campaigning, have insisted on and extensively lobbied for the presence of the people for the elections.
"They call on the people and ask them to come out for the elections as if out people has never been in the scene, as if they never took part in the elections", the official news agency IRNA quoted the former president as having pointed out.
Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani sharply criticised those who would suggest that before the election of Mr. Khatami, people would come out only on request from the authorities to take part in organised demonstrations, observing that since the revolution of 1979, people were solicited on every important matter and that important political development in Iran had the seal and the approval of the public.
But analysts said that what Mr. Rafsanjani does not realise, or does not want to understand is the difference between bringing people out in demonstrations and the people who take part in the political game, as it is fit for a civil society.
Mr. Rafsanjani confirmed this observation, recalling the resistance the people put out against the enemy during the war with Iraq or their participation at many events, including elections.
"It is not fair to questioning the nature and character of any part of those acts as having been merely blindfolded presence on the scene of manipulated masses and a token only of "the herd instinct" which, certain people had claimed in their political rhetoric and in their bid to appeal to the less knowledgeable sectors of the Iranian society", Mr. Rafsanjani said, quoted by IRNA.
Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani's criticism were mostly addressed at political reformist formations and groups, including the Iranian Participation Front that refused to add his name on their electoral and candidates lists.
"Considering the close links between the IPF with the President, one can easily conclude who really Mr. Rafsanjani had in mind when he lashed out at those who invites people to come out massively to vote", noted Mr. Ahmad Zeidabadi, a senior editor of Hamshahri, a popular newspaper that speaks for parties close to the Head of the Expediency Council. ENDS ELECTIONS 1200