Third of Iran’s Lawmakers Quit to Protest Candidate Bans

TEHRAN —  More than 100 reformist members of Iran’s parliament submitted their resignations today to protest the hard-line Guardian Council’s decision to disqualify hundreds of liberal candidates from Feb. 20 legislative elections.

The electoral dispute has plunged Iran into its worst political crisis in years and raised concern abroad about the future of the nation’s political system 25 years after the Islamic Revolution brought clerics to power.

Speaker Mehdi Karroubi told parliament he had received 109 resignation letters from lawmakers. The letters will be submitted to parliament’s presiding board for consideration later in the week.

Reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami accuse unelected hard-liners, who have used their sweeping powers to block most reform efforts since Khatami’s 1997 election, of attempting a blatant grab for power.

“One [political] faction lacks the support of the people. They want to gain it by force through the Guardian Council,” Karroubi said.

Reformists won a majority of parliament’s 290 seats in 2000 elections. Among those barred from the Feb. 20 vote are more than 80 reformist lawmakers.

The mass resignations will make it difficult for parliament to continue functioning given the requirement of a quorum of two-thirds of members to be present to hold a session.

In a letter read aloud in the Majlis, or parliament, liberal lawmaker Rajab Ali Mazrui said that the results of elections held under the Guardian Council’s restrictions would be a foregone conclusion.

“An election whose result is clear beforehand is a treason to the rights and ideals of the nation,” he said.

Lawmaker Mohsen Mirdamadi also denounced the Council in a speech, saying it wanted “to cover the ugly body of dictatorship with the beautiful dress of democracy.”

“The totalitarians have decided to eliminate republicanism and after that Islam by forming a show parliament,” he said. “We have no choice but to resign.”