TILTING TO REFORMISTS, KHAMENEH'I TAMED THE EXTREMISTS
By Safa Haeri
PARIS 19TH May (IPS) The Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Ali Khameneh'i ordered the conservatives-controlled Council of the Guardians to discontinue their re-counting of election boxes of Tehran and announce the results except for boxes that the Council consider as manipulated in one way or another, Radio Teheran announced Thursday.
Responding to a letter from the Council members asking him for guidance and ultimate decision on a matter they could not make their mind, Ayatollah Khameneh'i, in what analyst believe was a compromise found with President Mohammad Khatami to save the regime of more national and international mockery, told the supervisors to go ahead validating the results for the Capital they have not sufficient ground for doubt.
"The boxes you have found manipulated and containing fraudulent results must be annulled and all persons involved in fraud and manipulation be identified and brought to prosecution. But concerning other boxes your are not certain, it is of national interest to accept them as valid and announce the results", Mr. Khameneh'i decided in his response, thus giving the green light for the official inauguration of the Sixth Majles (parliament) of the Islamic Republic due on 27th May.
Except for the last one, "allocated" to former president ayatollah Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani who was dealt a burning blow by the voters, reformists had won all the Tehran's 30 seats and ever since the conservatives, unable to swallow that historic defeat, were divided over accepting the humiliation or, using the power of the 12-members CG, cancel the results for Tehran outright.
In fact, in the 21 years of Islamic regime, this was the first time that the Legislative got out of the hands of the conservatives who, having lost the Executive to the reformists in 1997 presidential race, continue, albeit lamed, to dominate the political life of the nartion thanks to unlimited powers concentrated in the hands of their leader, Ayatollah Khameneh'i.
The electoral fiasco sharply divided the seemingly united front of the hard liners, with one faction, though blaming Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani for the debacle, favouring a compromise by accepting the verdict of the polls and another, led by the Head of the Council for Discerning the State's Interests (CDSI) and backed by hard line clerics, urging the annulment of the elections, proclamation of a state of emergency, shutting all legal institutions, including the government and the rule by decree under a "Crisis Cabinet".
The assassination of Mr. Sa'id Hajjarian, Publisher of the outspoken "Sobhe Emrouz" (This Morning) daily and a close friend and ally of the President considered as the "architect" of the reformists popularity should have served as the catalyst for the proclamation of the state of emergency and the rest of a project known as the "Rampant Coup".
The failure of the killers to assassinate Mr. Hajjarian took the pro-putsch camp off guard, forcing them into clumsy improvisations that though dealt the reformists heavy blows, such as the closing of 16 publications, an unprecedented decision in the history of the Iranian press, the open warning to the government by the Revolutionary Guards and jailing of several dissidents both nationalist-religious and secularists, yet not only backfired on the conservatives themselves, but also opened the eyes of the world on the instability of the Iranian theocratic system, ending the euphoria created after the Majles elections.
But with more than 220 of the 290 seats of next Majles approved, the parliament could have been inaugurated anyway, needing the presence of only 194 deputies.
This situation divided the Guardians into two camps, those insisting on the cancellation of the elections in the one hand and the other working for a "toothless' parliament by stopping the heavy weights, meaning the Tehran reformists deputies to take their seats.
"It was exactly at this crucial moment that Ayatollah Khameneh'i, facing both a serious warning by Mr. Khatami of resignation in case the elections were annulled and the timely petition by more than 200 senior clerical personalities in support of the reformists in the one hand and realising the potential dangers of the extremists pushing for a "bloodless coup" on the other, decided to play his role as the "Supreme Guardian" of the Temple"explained Mr. Baqer Mo'in, the Head of the Persian and Pashtou services of the BBC who is considered as one of the best analysts of the Iranian affairs. ENDS ELECTIONS KHAMENEH'I 19500