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Tehran: Campaigning kicked off on Thursday for this month's Iranian parliament elections, a vote that could see gains for supporters of hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad after widespread disqualifications of reformist candidates.
Reformists have been hoping that widespread discontent over Ahmadinejad's failure to improve the flagging economy and reduce unemployment and inflation could boost their showing. But many of their candidates were among some 1,700 hopefuls that were barred from running by the country's constitutional watchdog, dominated by hardline clerics.
Other would-be candidates have dropped out on their own, whether for personal reasons or out of anger at the disqualifications. Among them is Ali Eshraghi, a grandson of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, founder of Iran's Islamic republic. Eshraghi was initially among those excluded, allegedly for not being loyal enough to the principles of the 1979 Islamic revolution and hard-line interpretations of Islamic rule, and he was later reinstated, but then he announced his withdrawal, without giving a reason.
Disqualifications
The wide disqualification has been reminiscent of the 2004 elections, when the Guardian Council barred thousands of reformists from running, allowing hard-liners to regain control of the 290-seat legislature.
The website of Iran's Interior Ministry said that about 4,500 candidates are now in the running in the March 14 vote.
Despite the official start yesterday, the campaign has not heated up yet, likely due to a two-day religious mourning holiday ahead.
In central Tehran, streets were hung yesterday with billboards for the largest coalition of candidates, the United Front of Principlists, a grouping of hard-liners, many of them close to Ahmadinejad, headed by parliament speaker Golam Ali Haddad Adel.
The name Principlists refers to its supporters' platform promising to implement the principles of Islam - but the faction has also emphasised slogans promising to reduce poverty and fight inflation, a nod to the widespread concerns over Ahmadinejad's performance on the economy.
According to official statistics, inflation stands at 17 per cent.
But hardliners have split, with a second list calling itself the Inclusive Coalition of Principlists, which has sought to distance itself from Ahmadinejad, calling for parliament to be more independent of his administration.
The list says it has close ties with Tehran's popular mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former chief of the elite Revolutionary Guards Mohsen Rezai and former top nuclear negotiator Ali Larijani.
The lists have not fully been completed across the country, and some candidates run independently without joining a coalition, making it difficult to assess the strengths of each faction.
But the reformist factions appear to be far smaller.
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