Iran moderates to seek review of election vetting

TEHRAN, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Top Iranian moderates will appeal to the Islamic state's most powerful figure to resolve a bitter political dispute over the mass disqualification of pro-reform aspirants for the March 14 parliamentary election.

The election row reflects a long-running power struggle between reformists and conservatives in Iran. Reformists believe the mass rejections via a vetting process are aimed at helping conservative candidates keep control of the 290-seat parliament.

Parliament does not draw up policy on major issues such as Iran's nuclear row with the West, but analysts say the result will indicate President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's popularity and his chance of re-election in 2009.

Reformists hope to be able to reinstate many of the 3,000 hopefuls initially rejected, out of a total 7,200 people who registered to run, by talking to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last say in all state matters.

An election official said those rejected had "records" with the authorities that excludes them from running.

Reformist former president Mohammad Khatami, moderate former parliament speaker Mehdi Karoubi and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, a pragmatic politician who heads a body that has the authority to dismiss the supreme leader, have formed a united front for the election.

These politicians want a thorough revision of the disqualifications, a reformist official said.

"The three politicians met on Saturday night to discuss the rejections," Abdollah Naseri, spokesman for the Reformists' Coalition, told Reuters. "They will separately meet the supreme leader to ask for his help to resolve the dispute."

In the 2004 parliamentary election, a hardline watchdog body, the Guardian Council banned 2,000 reformist candidates from entering the race. Conservatives won a landslide.

NO BOYCOTT

The council, an unelected body of 12 Islamic jurists and conservative clerics, can veto election candidates for reasons such as lack of commitment to Islam and the constitution.

This year government-controlled executive committees excluded many more candidates than usual in a preliminary filtering process before the council began its vetting process.

Khamenei, the all-powerful head of Iran's clerical establishment, urged the council to review the bans in the previous vote. Negotiations at the time led to a compromise and some disqualified candidates were reinstated.

With the election approaching, reformists insist they will not boycott the vote, saying a low turnout would bring into question the legitimacy of Iran's system at a time the country is under foreign pressure over its disputed nuclear programme.

The West says Iran wants to make atomic bombs, which Tehran denies.

Public interest in the row over disqualifications has been muted so far. There have been no big protests to back reformists who were drubbed in the 2004 vote partly for failing to implement promised social and political reforms.

Ahmadinejad's government is under fire from reformists and even some of his conservative backers, mainly because over economic policies that have been blamed for stoking inflation. (Writing by Parisa Hafezi, Editing by Matthew Tostevin)