BBC's Q&A: Iran election crisis

January 13, 2004 8:58 AM

What's the newest political row in Iran about? The refusal by Iran's Guardian Council to approve hundreds of reformist candidates in the parliamentary elections on 20 February has provoked a political crisis.
posted by hoder (5 comments total)

If I were an orthodox cleric-ruler in a country where 34% of the population is under 15, I'd be nervous too. It is a bit drastic to ban 80 sitting members of parliament though. They were OK last election, but somehow made themselves unsuitable since then?
posted by Triplanetary at 11:23 AM on January 13, 2004

Triplanetary, balance of power perhaps has changed and the hardliners are throwing up a Hail Mary (to mix religious metaphors) as they realize it may be now or not for a real long time again.
posted by billsaysthis at 11:59 AM on January 13, 2004

Sweet baby Jebus...why do I have to go all the way to the BBC to get news like this? Oh, that's right: it's because I live in America and my mainstream news sources suck major ass.

I went to the front pages of CNN, Fox, and MSNBC, and there's no mention of this. I mean, there's potential for an amazing democratic shift in Iran, and it's being slapped down by hard-liners, and the Khatami is talking about his entire government stepping down, and there's not a goddamned thing on the front page of those sites. Not even under the World section of CNN.
posted by RakDaddy at 4:37 PM on January 13, 2004

I know it's a drastic step, but you could always try The New York Times: Iranian Council Bars Thousands From Vote (Jan. 12), Iran Leader Delays Ruling on Exclusion of Reformists (Jan. 13), Khatami Asks Protesting Iran MPs to End Sit - In, MPs Say (Jan. 14).
posted by languagehat at 8:14 AM on January 14, 2004

Point taken, languagehat, and thank you. It just gets my goat that the Beeb talks about stuff like this and American networks don't.
posted by RakDaddy at 12:30 PM on January 14, 2004