Saturday, February 16, 2008

The Test of Democracy In Iran

Parliament elections will be under way in less than a month. Eventhough the Guardian Council claims it has approved many of the disqualified reformists, the spokesperson for the reformist coalition has indicated that they can compete in only 60 out of 290seats of the Parliament. This means that up to now the competition will be relatively unfair and unbalanced. There is still some hope that more reformist candidates will be approved.
True followers of Imam Khomeini are concerned.. They believe his version of an Islamic Republic is being seriously distorted by narrow-minded people who are very backward in their interpretations of Islam and the Revolution. Imam was very concerned about those who may use religion to promote their base and selfish interests. In his final will , Imam considers the danger of backwardness to be as devastating as the danger of imperialism and foreign hegemony. Unfortunately some of what is said and done today in the name of the Islamic Revolution is not in line with those principles. I hope some of the criticism that has surfaced in the media , and through the minority in the Parliament, is effective in changing this trend.
Ayatollah Tavasoli , a close companion of Imam Khomeini died today during a heart attack in a session of the Expediency Council. This news deeply saddened the friends of Imam and the reformists who knew the strong relationship he had maintained during all these years with Mr. Khatami.
Today what we need in Iran, more than anything else, is unity and close cooperation between factions within the country to ensure a healty and fair election process. We need to demonstrate the effectiveness of the democratic process in Iran, however difficult it may seem.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a Question please?

Is Mr. Khatami or Mr. Karroubi running for a seat in the parliament? and if not, why?

btw, why did you not run? Couldn't you resign from your seat in the City Counsil, and run in the Majlis elections?

Thank You.

Anonymous said...

One more Question, Please? :-)

Do you not think that the new coalition of the more pragmatic and rational Principalists such as Dr. Larijani will be an effective "partner" to the more liberal-minded Reformists? and that together in the next Majlis, these two groups (i.e., the reformists and the Larijani principalists) will be able to drown out the more radical voices of the far right?

... I guess I have a few more questions :-)
... here they are:

What do you think about Dr. Haddad-Adel?
He seems and sounds like a rather fair, logical and moderate conservative! Isn't he?!
Aren't his views closer to the true legacy of the revolution than the radical (or may I say fanatical) views of Iran's current president?
Dr. Haddad-Adel actually got into a disagreement with your president recently (I read about it a few weeks ago) causing your country's Supreme Leader to step in and mediate the problem between them.
What do you think will happen in the next Majlis (after March 14) to Haddad's position as the Head of the Legislative branch?
Will he stay in that position or will he be unseated and then try to run for presidency next year? And what do you think of that prospect btw?!! or do you think the next presidency will go to a reformist? How realistic is that though?
Am I right in thinking of Dr. Haddad-Adel as a good intellectual you guys can work with???
:-)
I would really appreciate it if you were to write your next blog such that it would answer my questions, but if not, please email me. Thank you!
Best Regards,
Anna
p.s. I wish this website had a "Contact Us" link with your email address in it :-(