Prominent but as yet unnamed reformists are among more than 1,400 initially rejected candidates now eligible to contest Iran’s parliamentary elections on February 26, a government official said Tuesday.
The new approvals raise the potential for a change in the balance of power in Iran’s parliament, a prospect that looked impossible after thousands of contenders were barred in a first round of vetting.
Anyone seeking to become one of Iran’s 290 MPs must satisfy the Guardian Council, a conservative-dominated constitutional watchdog of clerics and jurists, of their suitability for public office.
No names of the new approvals have yet been officially released but a final list is expected on February 16.
Parliament is now dominated by conservatives, and a reformist official said that last month’s exclusions had left only one percent – 30 of the group’s 3,000 candidates – eligible for the election.
Iran’s Interior Ministry, which will supervise the ballot, said efforts by President Hassan Rouhani’s government led to previously barred reformists, moderates and conservatives being approved.
The number of people allowed to contest the parliamentary election now stands at 6,185 – 51 percent of original applicants – including 586 women.
“The fact that the Guardian Council added over 1,400 to the approved list shows the efficiency of the government’s follow-ups and consultations,” ministry spokesman Hossein Ali Amiri told reporters in Tehran.
“Reformists, moderates, and conservatives are among the newly approved,” he said.
“There are prominent figures from the reformist and conservative camps.”
On hearing of last month’s rejections, reformists asked Rouhani, a moderate cleric with close ties to the reform movement, to intervene and seek changes.
