Word: khameini
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...nonetheless represents an opportunity for the Iranian people to make their voices heard. And that's a prospect that has the country's conservative political clergy understandably nervous. Last time voters were presented with such an opportunity, the conservatives allied with the country's supreme spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini, suffered a humiliating defeat, as 70 percent of the voters chose the reformist Mohammed Khatami over the candidate endorsed by Khameini. This time, even though the conservatives managed to axe more than 1,000 liberal candidates before the election, the margin of their defeat may be even higher...
...appointed supreme rulers, despite parliamentary and presidential elections that allow the population a limited outlet for their own views. The frustrations of a generation raised under the Islamic revolution poured out in unprecedented six days of confrontations with authority, in which students dared challenge the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini. But the reformers? strong suit is not street battles; it?s elections. Next March, Iranians go to the polls to elect the 270 legislators of the Majlis, or parliament. There are no political parties, and candidates deemed disloyal to the revolution can be nixed by a conservative-controlled Council...
...within those limitations there?s a real struggle for power between groupings committed to dramatically different visions of Iranian society," says TIME correspondent William Dowell. "Second to Israel, Iran may still be the liveliest republican democracy in the Middle East." Even though the conservative Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khameini ? who controls the security forces, the broadcast media and the religious bodies that vet laws passed by parliament and candidates running for election ? is appointed for life by a closed group of clergy, he still depends to some extent on the illusion of popular consent. "Electoral defeats are deeply troubling...
...political system created in 1979, fearing the power of the conservative backlash that transgression would occasion. When the conservative authorities banned further street demonstrations, Khatami dutifully fell in line and condemned any attempt to break the law and create social upheaval. In fact, five days earlier, it was Khameini who had been forced to condemn some of his most ardent supporters, who had mounted a bloody raid on protesters at a Tehran University dormitory. Both sides, then, recognize the need to maintain a balance. And despite the disappointment of many democracy-minded students over Khatami?s condemnation...
...widening democracy, entrenching the rule of law and normalizing Iran?s relations with the international community. After all, he is a cleric and a veteran of the revolution, and is able to articulate his aims as consistent with its original goals. But his landslide victory was a repudiation of Khameini?s hard-line policies, and the conservatives immediately launched a counterattack, arresting key supporters on corruption charges, attacking liberal theologians and closing down reformist newspapers. More ominously, scores of liberal writers and intellectuals have been assassinated by shadowy groups, some of whom were traced back the Intelligence Ministry. The political...