From: clarinews@clarinet.com (RALPH JOSEPH)
Newsgroups: clari.news.gov.international,clari.news.election,clari.news.politics.people,biz.clarinet.sample
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Message-id: <iran-electionsU2AA1115ae@clarinet.com>
Subject: Iran elects new Parliament
Keywords: international, non-usa government, government, election, politics,
	political personalities, international trade, trade
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 92 8:19:07 PDT
Location: iran
ACategory: international
Slugword: iran-elections
Priority: regular
Format: regular
ANPA: Wc: 447; Id: z3597; Sel: xxigf; Adate: 4-10-1115aed
Codes: yigfrxx., yiperip., yiprrip., ybsirip.

	ATHENS, Greece (UPI) -- Iranians voted in a national election Friday
that may decide whether the fundamentalist Islamic republic moves toward
improved trade and other ties with the United States and other nations.
	Senior clerics called for a large voter turnout to elect a new 270-
member Majlis, or Parliament, in the fourth general election since the
1979 revolution that toppled the Shah, and the first since the death of
religious leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
	President Hashemi Rafsanjani, at the head of a group of pragmatic
clerics who pursue policies aimed at free market reforms and an end to
Iran's diplomatic isolation, wants to boost the number of his supporters
in the Parliament.
	The outgoing Parliament was seen to be dominated by supporters of
hard-line clerics who have tended toward a more left-wing approach in
the economy and a strict interpretation of Islam and the teachings of
Ayatollah Khomeini.
	During recent days, the hard-liners bitterly complained that their
candidates were unfairly eliminated from the contest by means of a
screening procedure.
	The hard-liners, including current Majlis Speaker Mehdi Karubi, said
the screening committees set up by the Council of Guardians of the
Constitution, declared many well-known candidates ineligible without
giving sufficient reasons.
	Diplomats said the Council of Guardians, a 12-man body of clerics and
lay jurists, has in the past tilted in favor of Rafsanjani.
	Among the candidates screened out were former ``hanging judge''
Hojatoleslam Sadeq Khalkhali, former Heavy Industries Minister Behzad
Nabavi and gun-toting cleric Hadi Ghaffari, who brought crowds into the
streets in the revolution against the Shah.
	Prominent among those in the outgoing Majlis declared ineligible to
run again was Ebrahim Asgharzadeh, one of the radicals who stormed the
U.S. embassy in November 1979 and took more than 52 Anmricans hostage.
	The Council of Guardians, which screened out more than 1,000
candidates who originally registered, hinted that many were found
wanting in their interpretation of Islam.
	During the past 12 years the Council of Guardians has insisted that
Islam does not disapprove of private property and has vetoed left-
leaning bills introduced by the hard-liners.
	Tehran radio said voting was taking place at 30,000 polling stations
in 196 constituencies across the country. A candidate is declared
elected if he receives the largest number of votes in his constituency,
provided he gets at least 30 percent of the votes cast, otherwise run-
off elections are held, the radio said.
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