RUNOFF MAJLES ELECTIONS CONFIRMS VICTORY OF REFORMISTS
TEHRAN 5TH May (IPS) Iranians went more or less massively to the polls Friday to elected the 66 remaining deputies for the next, the sixth 290-seats Majles (parliament) among some 132 contestants in 52 constituencies scattered in 22 provinces.
IPS correspondent in Tehran said the turn out was better than expected, as the run off was held in the absence of all major independent and reformist publications in the one hand and the very short time the candidates had for campaigning on the other.
Though in the first round of the elections held in 18th, 215 out of 290 seats were filled but the leader-controlled Council of Guardians, a watch dog body in charge to wet the candidates and to approve the results either annulled the votes in some constituencies or changed without the slightest shame or sense of ridicule the positions of the candidates in favour of the conservatives in at least 9 constituencies.
As a result only 185 candidates have been definitively approved by the Council that, at the same time, is recounting the results from Tehran's 30 seats, all but one grabbed by the reformists.
The Guardians said on Thursday that recounting of votes in Tehran would continue, adding that votes in more than 140 ballot boxes have been recounted, showing contradictions in the number of votes already announced.
Citing as example, one councilman said in one ballot box where it was reported that former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani had received no votes, one would find 1,022 votes in his favour.
Informed sources told Iran Press Service that after their crushing defeat, the conservatives are trying to lame the next Majles by emptying it from the star performers, meaning elected MPs of the capital, among them Dr. Mohammad Reza Khatami, the younger brother of the President, who is the leader of the Islamic Iran Participation Front, the biggest fraction in the next Majles, Dr. Nouri, the brother of the former Interior Minister Abdollah Nouri who is serving a five year prison term and Mrs. Jamileh Kadivar, the wife of the embattled Guidance and Islamic Culture Minister.
"What the Council is doing is taking Tehran reformists elected MPs as hostage", pointed out Mr. Ahmad Salamatian, a former MP and prominent political analyst based in Paris.
However, even in the absence of Tehran's 29 candidates, the next parliament would be dominated and controlled by the reformists.
Among 132 contestants, 6 are women hoping to join the nine who have already made their way in the first round of the voting and if they succeed, the next Majles would have 15 female MPs, the largest ever, as from only 4 in the first Majles, their number increased to 14 in the outgoing one.
Mr. Mostafa Tajzadeh, a deputy Interior Minister in charge of the elections said voting was heavy in some constituencies and less important in others, but in general elections went smoothly, with no major problem signalled.
As a result of heavy influence in some areas, it was decided to extend for two more hours the closure of the polling stations. ENDS ELECTIONS RUNOFF 5500