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Iran opposition calls for vote over candidate bans
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One of Iran’s top opposition leaders called Monday for a referendum on whether to strip the ruling system of the right to ban political candidates – a powerful tool used to blacklist liberal voices from key campaigns.
It’s highly unlikely that Iran’s theocracy will allow a public judgment on one of the pillars of the constitution. But the appeal by Mahdi Karroubi could signal new strategies by the opposition after their latest street protests were crushed by riot police and militiamen earlier this month.
Karroubi, whose son Ali was detained that day and allegedly beaten by hardline vigilantes, said in a statement that “security forces turned Tehran into a military base.”
The statement, carried on the pro-reform Sahamnews Web site, said a referendum on the role of the Guardian Council could be a way to ease Iran’s worst internal unrest since the Revolution.
The 12-member Council vets candidates for political office, oversees elections and examines claims of voting irregularities. The members are all are appointed by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who strongly backs President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
“What kind of parliament is a parliament that … operates under fear of the Guardian Council?” he wrote.
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