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2nd round of polls

in Iran next week

TEHRAN: Islamic conservatives are stepping up attacks on their moderate rivals close to President Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani ahead of the second round of general elections in Iran next week. Conservative officials and newspapers have accused the moderate camp, which has a strong base in Rafsanjani's administration, of misusing public funds during campaigning ahead of the first round of voting on March 8.

Gholamhussein Karbaschi, Tehran's popular mayor who helped establish a political group to challenge the conservatives in the elections, has been the main target. Hardline newspapers, opposed to Karbaschi for his Western-style development projects and political moderation, have pressured the authorities to investigate the alleged use of government funds by the municipality to prevent the "same irregularities" in the campaign for the second round on April 19.

The head of Tehran's justice department, Ali Razini, said Tuesday that 50 government officials, including three mayors and three candidates, had been sentenced to jail and lashes of the whip for violating election laws.

They had "misused public funds or forged campaign posters," he said, adding that most of the violations had been committed by municipalities around the country.

The polls pit the two main factions of the Iranian regime against each other, and the two have been locked in an unprecedented competition for seats in the 270-member parliament.

The moderate faction, running under the name of "Servants of Construction," favours easing of strict Islamic regulations and better relations with the West.

The conservatives, led by the influential speaker of the outgoing parliament Ali Akbar Nategh-Nuri, are staunch enemies of Western liberal democratic culture.

Their rallying call is "absolute obedience" to Iran's paramount leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahead of the second round, conservative officials and their hardline allies have been accusing moderates of espousing liberal ideas contrary to the values laid down by the 1979 Islamic revolution.

"We have to educate the people about these religious liberals who have gained votes and could weaken the revolution," Asadollah Badamchian, an election hopeful, said in an editorial published in Resalat newspaper.

Some candidates "are seeking to weaken the pillars of Islam through propagating liberal principles," influential conservative cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Janati warned.-Reuter