January 15, 2020
EVEN A COUNTRY UNDER SIEGE OUGHT TO LET THEM RUN:
Iran's Rouhani slams disqualification of thousands from running for parliament (NASSER KARIMI and MOHAMMAD NASIRI, 1/15/20, AP)
Iran's president on Wednesday slammed the disqualification of thousands of people, including 90 current lawmakers, from running in upcoming parliamentary elections.Although hard-liners were among those disqualified by the powerful Guardian Council, most of those rejected were reformist and moderate candidates, according to Tehran's reformist newspaper Etemad.Iranian President Hassan Rouhani appeared to confirm this in his stinging critique of the council, which barred more than 9,000 from the over 14,000 people who had registered to run. Among them are 90 sitting lawmakers out of some 247 who registered to run for re-election.Rouhani said it is not possible to run the country with just one faction in power.
Posted by Orrin Judd at January 15, 2020 4:18 PM