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By Kianouche Dorranie
TEHRAN (AFP) - Iran's elections watchdog finally confirmed poll results in the key Tehran constituency yesterday, giving almost total victory to reformists, but as a sop to the losing conservatives awarded them two seats, including one for former president Akbar Hashemi Rafasanjani. The decision by the Guardians Council on the direct orders of Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cleared the political air, enabling the reformists to take over the new parliament at full strength in a week's time. The conservative-dominated Guardians endorsed the results in all but two of the 30 seats at stake in the key Tehran constituency following the February polls, the official news agency IRNA said. The remaining two seats would go to a second round run-off, the agency said. However, the Guardians disqualified the returns from 534 ballot boxes, or 726,266 votes out of more than two million cast, because of manifold irregularities. It enabled Rafsanjani, the head of the list backed by conservatives and moderates, to be hoisted to 20th on the list of successful candidates, when he had previously been said to have barely scraped in at 29th or 30th. Another conservative, Gholamali Haded-Adal, was awarded the 28th place. President Mohammad Khatami's brother Mohammad-Reza, leader of the reformist camp, topped the list. Jamileh Kadivar, wife of Culture Minister Ataollah Mohajerani, followed Mohammad-Reza. The results for 241 out of the 290 seats in the new parliament, scheduled to sit in a week's time, have now been confirmed by the conservative Guardians. The overwhelming majority, 189 or 78 percent, have gone to reformists close to President Khatami, replacing the outgoing conservative-dominated assembly. The long-awaited endorsement of the results came after Khamenei stepped in Thursday and ordered them to be declared, after the Guardians said that widespread discrepancies had made it impossible. Khamenei said the results should be based on ballot boxes cleared after a series of recounts, adding that it would "not be in the best national interest" to continue checking the rest. He said it was up to the judiciary and the elections inspectorate to take action against anyone found guilty of fraud. The judiciary said yesterday those found responsible would be prosecuted, while the pro-conservative Tehran Times said the courts had summoned at least four Interior Ministry officials, including Deputy Minister Mostafa Tajzadeh. The delay by the Guardians in validating the results, coupled with the suspension of a dozen pro-reform publications by the courts, aroused fears that conservatives were out to put a spoke in the wheel of the new parliament. On April 25, the Guardians had validated the results of the first round held in February virtually everywhere but Tehran. A complete new election in the capital would have deprived the reformists of their leadership at the beginning of the parliament and cut their majority, affecting in particular the choice of the powerful speaker. In the event Mehdi Karubi, speaker in a previous radical parliament who has been tipped to take the post again, was declared elected in 23rd place. |
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