Khatami under doctors' care

2004-01-31 22:20

Tehran, Iran - An attack of back pain forced President Mohammad Khatami to postpone an emergency Cabinet meeting on Saturday that was to have discussed the crisis over parliamentary elections, said a senior official in his office.

Khatami indicated to reporters earlier in the day that his government would not hold the elections, scheduled for February 20, from which a supervisory body, the hard-line Guardian Council, had barred more than two thousand reformist candidates.

"My government will only hold competitive and free elections. The parliament must represent the views of the majority and include all (political) tendencies," the official Islamic Republic News Agency quoted Khatami as saying.

Interior Minister Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, whose department organises elections in Iran, said they could not be lawful under the Guardian's Council's conditions.

"There is no possibility of competitive, free and fair elections," IRNA quoted Lari as saying. "We don't consider this election as legitimate."

Reformists accuse the council of disqualifying liberals to sway the polls in the conservatives' favour. The hard-liners say the disqualified lacked the criteria to stand.

An official in Khatami's office told The Associated Press that Khatami is "under the direct care of his doctors at home." Earlier the same official had said Khatami had been "hospitalised" due to his back problem.

The official said the mental strain of the crisis had worsened the physical condition of the president, who slipped a disc in his back a few years ago.

"The president has had a back problems for a long time but, due to the pressure of the election dispute, he was unable to hold an emergency meeting today."

"Khatami himself will make further statements soon," the official said.

The Guardian Council delivered its final tally of disqualifications Friday for the elections, reinstating 1&nsbp;160 of the candidates it had disqualified. But the move meant that it has barred over 2&nsbp;400 reformists - including 80 incumbent lawmakers. Initially the council had disqualified more than 3&nsbp;600 of the 8&nsbp;200 candidates who filed papers to stand.

Saeed Shariati, a leader of Iran's biggest reformist party, said the president's medical complaint might slow the government's response to the crisis, but not that of the politicians in the race.

"The president's physical condition may delay some consultations at the top level of the Iranian leadership, but it will have no effect on the political parties or reformist lawmakers," Shariati said.

Shariati's party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front, has called an extraordinary meeting for Monday after which it is expected to announce a boycott of the polls.

Shariati said on Friday that the Guardian Council's final word on disqualifications "means there is no option left for us but to boycott this sham election."

- AP