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Top Iran reform party to shun poll
Iran's largest reform party has said it would boycott this month's parliamentary election, even if a hardline watchdog overturns its ban on hundreds of reformist candidates. The impasse has plunged the Islamic republic, now celebrating its 25th anniversary, into what many see as its worst crisis since formation in 1979. "We will not take part in the elections of 20 February," Muhammad Reza Khatami, head of the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) party, told a news conference.
| Apparently he's the brother with the spine... |
He added the party, one of the main backers of his brother President Muhammad Khatami, would only put forward candidates for an election if the bans were overturned and the vote was postponed to allow more time for campaigning. He also said the party was not calling on the electorate to stay away from the polling booths, adding that it was "their sovereign choice." Reformists pushed on Monday for a postponement of the election in a showdown with hardliners which has plunged the Islamic Republic into its worst political crisis in years. "We support the position of the government not to organise give-away elections," said Khatami, who on Sunday had warned that the disqualifications amounted to a conservative "coup d'etat" supported by the military.
| Looks like we've got a first-class crisis brewing there... |
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2004-02-03 |
