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Iran parliamentary elections seen as contest of hard-liners
No one in Tehran seems to think Friday's contests will culminate in the kind of broad outcry that greeted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's disputed reelection.
By Ramin Mostaghim and Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
March 1, 2012, 4:29 p.m.
Reporting from Tehran and Beirut—
Posters along the streets of Tehran herald parliamentary elections scheduled for Friday, the first nationwide balloting since the disputed 2009 vote that triggered the largest protests in more than 30 years of Islamist rule.
But, at least in Tehran, no one seems to anticipate that Friday's contests will culminate in the kind of broad public outcry that greeted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial reelection almost three years ago amid widespread allegations of fraud and ballot-rigging.
The government has successfully crushed the opposition that took to the streets in 2009, analysts say, and clerical screeners have blocked most "reformist" candidates from the ballot for the 290 seats at stake in the Iranian parliament, or Majlis.
Rather than reformist vs. conservative, observers say, the parliamentary races appear to come down to a contest among hard-line factions, all eager to demonstrate their fealty to Iran's singular Islamist governing system.
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-election-20120302,0,6367449.story
By Ramin Mostaghim and Patrick J. McDonnell, Los Angeles Times
March 1, 2012, 4:29 p.m.
Reporting from Tehran and Beirut—
Posters along the streets of Tehran herald parliamentary elections scheduled for Friday, the first nationwide balloting since the disputed 2009 vote that triggered the largest protests in more than 30 years of Islamist rule.
But, at least in Tehran, no one seems to anticipate that Friday's contests will culminate in the kind of broad public outcry that greeted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's controversial reelection almost three years ago amid widespread allegations of fraud and ballot-rigging.
The government has successfully crushed the opposition that took to the streets in 2009, analysts say, and clerical screeners have blocked most "reformist" candidates from the ballot for the 290 seats at stake in the Iranian parliament, or Majlis.
Rather than reformist vs. conservative, observers say, the parliamentary races appear to come down to a contest among hard-line factions, all eager to demonstrate their fealty to Iran's singular Islamist governing system.
More: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-iran-election-20120302,0,6367449.story
