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Iran's intelligence chief backs democratic elections

TEHRAN: Iran's powerful intelligence chief has said the people, not the secret service, should assess candidates for next month's parliamentary elections and determine the fate of the nation.

Intelligence Minister Ali Yunesi, appointed last February in the wake of the "mystery murders" of dissidents by rogue agents, told Entekhab newspaper his agency had exercised unprecedented restraint in vetting candidates for the February 18 poll.

"We must allow the people to be completely involved to determine their future, and we must not be afraid of the possibility of one or two people getting into parliament by mistake," he said in an interview published on Wednesday.

Under Iran's election laws, the intelligence ministry, the police and other agencies must approve candidates to elected office -- essentially giving them veto power. The hardline Guardian Council then makes the final ruling.

In recent years, conservatives have used this vetting power aggressively to bar reformers from standing for office, often by accusing them of lack of faith in Islam, the Islamic system or the principle of supreme clerical rule.

In the run-up to next month's election, some prominent reformers and sitting MPs have also been banned. Moderate President Mohammad Khatami's faction lost 90 of 290 candidates, but the group's leaders said they had expected far worse.

Yunesi said his ministry used its right to disqualify three to four percent of the record 6,800 hopefuls, a fraction of the 12 percent it banned from the last parliamentary elections four years ago. Other state bodies barred additional candidates.

The final candidate list will not be available until the Guardian Council, dominated by conservative clerics, rules on all outstanding appeals -- sometime around the end of the month.

With a number of top reformist icons, including dissident cleric Abdollah Nouri, deemed ineligible, concerns are increasing that voters may stay home in silent protest.

Such an outcome could undermine the Islamic republic, Yunesi said.

"The danger of these people getting into parliament is much less than that of the people not taking part in the elections," he said.

"The ill effect of decreased public participation is much greater than the effect of the presence of certain people in parliament. Not paying attention to the people is very dangerous," said Yunesi, a mid-ranking Shia cleric.

He also pledged to continue efforts to reform the ministry, seen by many Iranians as a power unto itself with little or no oversight by the president or parliament.

"The intelligence ministry is determined to restructure itself to conform to the new situation. In reality the intelligence ministry is more than happy to change and reform."

Yunesi was appointed last February after his predecessor was forced out over the "mystery murders" scandal, in which elements of the secret service were identified as having carried out the killings of intellectuals and dissident politicians.

The murders shocked the nation and produced fierce calls for wholesale reform of the secret service, but promised trials for those implicated have yet to be held.-Reuters