TEHRAN, Feb. 16 (UPI) -- Iran's President Mohammad Khatami Monday called on voters to defeat the conservative "minority" in Friday's elections.
"Even if the voters cannot send the candidates they want to Parliament, they can prevent those they don't want from being elected," Khatami said Monday, reported the official Iranian news agency IRNA.
Hard-line Ayatollahs in Iran's Guidance Council, which controls the judiciary, the security agencies and the Revolutionary Guard, have barred most reformers from standing for re-election to the Majlis, Iran's parliament. The ban follows a long stand-off between the reformist elected parliament and the Council, which has blocked efforts to relax 24 years of strict religious rule.
The Council now counts on apathy to keep most voters away from the polls, allowing a conservative majority to be elected, the reformists warn.
"The people know that not to vote will allow a minority to control the destiny of the country," Khatami said.
