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TEHRAN - Rival political factions in Iran appealed for unity on Thursday on the eve of crucial elections for the Assembly of Experts, a pillar of the Islamic republic which appoints the supreme leader.
Leaders of official media have waged an intense campaign appealing to 39 million eligible voters -- aged 15 and above -- to elect on Friday 86 representatives to the assembly and display their support for the regime.
"Even those who may have grudges (against the authorities) should not hesitate about taking part because the enemy may be tempted to take advantage of the differences," said Jomhuri Islami, a hardline newspaper.
Many rival newspapers urged the factions to put aside their dispute and think about the country's future, although continuing to criticize the selection process.
Khatami himself has pleaded for an "enthusiastic" turnout.
"At a time when foreign propaganda seeks to discourage people, we in the country should not move in the same direction," said Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, Tehran's suspended mayor, general secretary of the Servants of Construction Party.
Voters have been told that voting amounts to a "sacred duty" and a "punch in the jaw of Islam's enemies."
"Men, women and especially the young must go and vote to ensure the disappointment of the enemies of Islam", Khamenei, the supreme leader, told a public meeting on Wednesday.
In expectations of a low turnout, some officials have been insisting that the legitimacy of the Islamic regime will not be affected by the level of voter participation.
"Our regime gets its legitimacy from God. The legitimacy of the regime does not necessarily lie with the people," said the conservative speaker of parliament, Ali-Akbar Nateq-Nuri. "Those who say the legitimacy of the leader depends on his popularity do not understand it."
Karbaschi agreed: "The legitimacy of the Assembly of Experts is not subject to the number of people who vote," he told the British newspaper the Guardian.
Whatever the turnout, the government
has been preparing all-out for the election, implementing extensive security
measures and setting up 39,000 voting stations nationwide. Some 10,000
officials have been charged with overseeing the count.
"Enemies Are Waiting to Strike a Strong Blow At Our Regime", Associated Press, October 22
TEHRAN - Fearing an embarrassingly low turnout in a key election, senior conservative clerics fervently urged Iranians to vote Friday to show confidence in the 19-year-old Islamic regime.
Among those urging people to vote was Grand Ayatollah Kazem Lankarani, who called it a "divine duty" and warned that "the revolution's enemies are waiting to strike a strong blow at our regime."
The hard-line controlled state Tehran radio spent half its hour-long main news program Thursday broadcasting calls for people to show their "brave presence" at polling stations to elect the Assembly of Experts.
Aside from the presidential polls, the election for the 86-member assembly is the most important in Iran because the caucus elects and supervises the country's supreme religious leader, who has the final say in government decisions.
Fewer than 10 million of the just over 38 million eligible voters are expected to participate. Even the hard-line Abrar daily estimated that 15 million people will vote, a turnout of 39 percent.
The conflict is the latest chapter in a pervasive power struggle in the ruling clergy between Khatami and conservative clergymen who control most of the major state institutions such as the judiciary and security agencies.
Iran Polls Provoke More Shrugs Than Passion, Reuters, October 22
TEHRAN - Iranians from many walks of life look ahead to Friday's election for an obscure body of Shi'ite Moslem theologians and ask what difference it will make to them.
The polls for the clergy-based Assembly of Experts, which appoints and can dismiss Iran's supreme leader, have been billed by conservative clerics as crucial to the survival of Iran's Islamic system. Voting, they say, is a religious duty.
Few expect any change in the conservatives' control of the Assembly and, consequently, the broad powers and stance of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
The conservative establishment, backed by state radio and television, has bombarded Iran's voters with the need to go to the polls. State media carry numerous interviews with people saying they will vote to show their support for Iran's Islamic system.
Analysts suggest a figure near the 11.5 million who took part in the last Assembly elections eight years ago would badly embarrass conservatives.
Population growth alone, they point out, has swelled the rolls of eligible voters, all those 15 years and older, to about 39 million from 25 million in 1990.