The administrative board of the conservative faction that dominates with the Majlis right now with about 80 percent of the members has submitted a list of 13 prominent principleists to President Ahmadi-nejad, asking him to select nine of the men for a committee to strive for a united approach to the elections next March 2.
Many observers have expected the right to fragment between traditional conservatives and supporters of President Ahmadi-nejad. Some fear that will give reformists an opportunity to get back into power, although more see the reformists as stripped bare and expect the Council of Guardians to keep prominent reformists off the ballot.
In the 2008 elections, big name reformists were denied ballot slots, but lesser known reformists were allowed on the ballot in large numbers. They failed to gain many votes, however, and have only about 40-odd deputies in the 290-member Majlis.
Vali Esmaeli, who is a member of the administrative board of the Principleist faction in the Majlis said the 13 nominees have already met “and they will make every effort to bring the Principleists together so they can reach a consensus [on candidates] for the coming elections.”
Such unity efforts are common before elections in the Islamic Republic, but they rarely accomplish much in a society that is geared to individual political personalities rather than to structured political parties.
An anti-Ahmadi-nejad principleist has already questioned whether Ahmadi-nejad’s Administration can be trusted even to run fair elections. Deputy Nurollah Heydari told Khabar-online that Ahmadi-nejad’s government was effectively bribing people with government projects and couldn’t be trusted.
“How can we trust them to carry out healthy elections?” he asked.
“Funds distributed as Now Ruz benefits and gifts from the office of the president at gatherings and galas with artists and actors are not adequately accounted for,” he charged. “Distributing government handouts to certain regions and individuals” was another example of “illegal” actions by the Ahmadi-nejad Administration.
He alleged that many regional construction projects were barely disguised bribes for support.
Meanwhile, Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced that he is prepared to approve online voting for next year’s Majlis elections. He said he wouldn’t move forward until others approved, including the Council of Guardians. Many have objected to online voting, saying they fear it opens up a new and easy opportunity for vote fraud.