Tehran, Jan 22, IRNA -- The Guardian Council spokesman Gholamhossein
Elham on Saturday rejected the statement attributed to him that Iranian women
can stand for presidency.
He said that no change has been made in the stance of the Guardian
Council about the meaning of political and religious personalities
'Rejal'. And the body still believes that Rejal means men.
Foreign media had quoted Elham as saying that women can also sign
up as candidates in the presidential election and even several
political groups had congratulated the head of the Guardian Council
Ahmad Jannati on the change of heart.
Following is an an earlier report by IRNA on the subject:
Mainstream grouping hails decision to let women stand for president
Tehran, Jan 22, IRNA -- A mainstream grouping has thanked the
supervisory Guardian Council for allowing women to stand for president
for the first time in the Islamic Republic.
Gholamhossein Elham, the spokesman for the council which screens
electoral processes as well as parliamentary decisions, announced
Friday that women can run in June's presidential election.
The announcement was a dramatic about-face from the Guardian
Council's own decision last October after it put its foot down to say
that only men can contest presidential elections.
The announcement has also put an end to a long-standing bitter
argument over how to interpret the Constitution, which stipulate that
a presidential candidate must be among the 'rejal', a literally
meaning 'men' in Arabic.
Speaking in the western city of Khorramabad, Elham said, "Women
who have the necessary qualifications have the right to run in the
presidential elections."
In a letter to the Secretary of the Guardian Council Ahmad
Jannati, the Front for Consolidating Democracy, which groups 15
parties, hailed the decision.
"Member parties of the Front for Consolidating Democracy consider
the candidacy of women in presidential elections as one of the key
characteristics of religious democracy," said part of the letter,
received by IRNA.
"Permitting women to become candidates in the presidential
election is in line with realizing the core strategies of the
establishment, namely a maximum participation of the electorate in the
ninth round of the presidential election," it added.
Iran's current president, Mohammad Khatami, is nearing the end of
his second consecutive term and the constitution bars him from serving
more than two consecutive mandates.
Several people have announced their bid to run in the election,
including former Parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi.
The mid-ranking cleric has welcomed a swelling list of candidates,
saying a 'magnificent' organization of the election could help 'lift
some of the international pressures (on Iran) or lessen them'.
The white-turbaned theologian, who is the secretary of the
Association of the Combatant Clerics, has launched his presidential
bid with a charm offensive, trying to actuate the same spirit which
propelled President Mohammad Khatami to a landslide in 1997.
Karroubi's announcement, however, could further split the vote
with the presence of such reformists as former higher education
minister Mostafa Moin and incumbent Vice President Mohsen
Mehr-Alizadeh who have entered the race.
Karroubi has stressed that 'I will not pull out of the race in
favor of anyone nor will I ask anyone to do so'.
The list is still growing, with Iran's Secretary of the Supreme
National Security Council and top nuclear negotiator, Hassan Rowhani,
having confirmed his intention to join the race as has the former head
of the state broadcasting, Ali Larijani.
Others included in the list are Iran's former foreign minister Ali
Akbar Velayati, who is now the supreme leader's top advisor, and
former chief of the Islamic Revolution's Guards Corps, Mohsen Rezaie.
But a key contender -- former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani,
who chairs the arbitrative Expediency Council -- is biding his time.
He recently announced that 'if the country's elite ask me to
participate, I will definitely come to the scene'.
... Payvand News - 1/22/05 ... --
