DATE=2/22/2000
TYPE=U-S OPINION ROUNDUP
TITLE=REFORMERS WIN BIG IN IRAN VOTE
NUMBER=6-11694
BYLINE=ANDREW GUTHRIE
DATELINE=WASHINGTON
EDITOR=ASSIGNMENTS
TELEPHONE=619-3335
CONTENT=
INTRO: The votes are still being counted in Iran, but
it is clear that reform candidates have won a
substantial victory, assuring them of a majority in
the Majlis or parliament.
Newspapers throughout the United States and around the
world are studying the results, mostly with approval,
and we get a sampling of the American reaction now
from ___________ in today's U-S Opinion Roundup.
TEXT: It has been more than 20 years since the Shah
of Iran fled the country in the wake of a popular
uprising by supporters of a stern, Islamic cleric, the
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He had run his campaign
for power in Tehran from exile in Paris, but when the
people had had enough of the ailing shah, he returned
triumphant. However, the ayatollah then instituted a
harsh theocracy in which orthodox Islamic rules
applied.
During the past few years, as the economy continued to
stagnate, the increasingly youthful population of the
nation tired of the strict rules. In 1997, young
voters joined with their by now disenchanted elders to
elect a relatively moderate cleric, Mohammad Khatami,
as president. But he has been hampered by the un-
elected, but almost totally powerful, successor to the
Ayatollah Khomeini, Ayatollah Ali Khameini.
In last Friday's elections, however, the reform
movement scored an even more impressive victory,
sending a clear majority of progressive, reform-minded
candidates to parliament to support the president.
Most U-S papers are very pleased, but in Charleston,
South Carolina, The Post and Courier is still
suggesting caution, in dealing with Iran.
VOICE: The victory of moderates ... has drawn praise
from democratic governments, including the United
States. However, a word of caution is also
appropriate. ... while the election is likely to lead
to a stronger democracy and improve the lives of
ordinary Iranians, it does not automatically guarantee
a kinder, gentler Iran in the sphere of foreign
policy. ... It would be naive to think that Iran has
moved any closer in these parliamentary elections to
meeting U-S demands that it cease support for
terrorists and respect the efforts of Israel, Syria
and the Palestine Authority to make peace. If
anything, Iran seems ready to stir up more trouble.
... The moderates' victory may gradually lead Iran to
adopt a more constructive foreign policy. But now is
not the time for the United States to ease its
conditions for improving relations with Iran.
TEXT: The Post and Courier's caution does not extend
up the East Coast to Connecticut, where The Hartford
Courant is almost optimistic about Iran's election
results, suggesting that: "politically, spring is in
the air."
VOICE: The Clinton administration should respond to
this remarkable event by being receptive to any
goodwill tenders that might come from Tehran.
Americans must not continue to base attitudes toward
Iran on the U-S Embassy hostage crisis that followed
the 1979 revolution and the bitter bilateral relations
that have held sway since. ... In a sense, Iran
experienced its second revolution last week. This one
was through the ballot. /// OPT /// More than 80
percent of the nation's eligible voters turned out,
and a decisive majority supported change. The
leadership that brought the Islamic Republic to power
in 1979 would be foolish to turn a deaf ear. /// END
OPT ///
TEXT: The big national daily, U-S-A Today, published
in a Washington D-C suburb, is also pleased,
headlining its comment: "Iran's bright hope."
VOICE: Inch by grudging inch, a wave of young
reformers appears to be pushing Iran where its leaders
least want to go -- toward moderation and away from
two decades of hostility to the united States. That
face was evident in the streets of Tehran Monday as
jubilant voters thronged Iran's moderate President
Mohammad Khatami, following the news that his
supporters prevailed over hard-liners in parliamentary
elections. ... But while there's no mistaking
Iranians' rejection of the increasingly corrupt,
isolated old guard, it's too soon to judge whether the
vote will translate into improvements in U-S Iranian
relations any time soon. Or in the oppressed lives of
Iran's 65-million citizens. /// OPT /// ...
Nonetheless, Iran's voter-driven progress cannot be
denied. Iran now gives its citizens more freedom to
choose leaders than do Egypt, Syria, and the other
Arab countries of the Middle East. If the new
parliament passes additional electoral and judicial
reforms, regular Iranians will be more empowered than
ever to swing the nation away from its two decades of
oppressive religious zealotry. /// END OPT ///
TEXT: The Washington Post titles its comment: "Iran's
Evolution."
VOICE: Preliminary results from Iran's parliamentary
elections suggest that candidates supporting President
Mohammed Khatami and his reform agenda will win a
majority of seats. That result, if it survives ...
runoff elections, would nudge Iran farther along a
gradual path away from full theocracy to something
much more open and democratic. ... It's not clear
whether society can continue to evolve despite
determined resistance from hard-line clerics or
whether the Iranian political system would collapse
under the strain.
TEXT: The New York Times is also pleased:
VOICE: The peaceful revolt against clerical
repression in Iran that began three years ago with the
election of Mohammad Khatami as president is gaining
strength. ... The message of these elections is that
an overwhelming majority of Iranians are weary of
fundamentalist rule, an ailing economy and an abrasive
foreign policy that has left Iran lagging behind at a
time of expanding prosperity and freedom around the
world.
TEXT: The overwhelming victory of reform candidates
draws this reaction from Pittsburgh's Post-Gazette:
VOICE: It was an image that defied Americans'
perceptions of Iran. Last Friday, millions of
Iranians - men and women - went to the polls to vote
in parliamentary elections. ...In a sense, Friday's
vote was a follow-up to the 1997 presidential election
won by reformist theologian Mohammad Khatami... [who]
has mostly been unable to deliver on his promises to
create a freer civil society .... Due in part to the
... old guard [who] retained a majority in the
powerful 290-seat parliament.
TEXT: The Chicago Tribune reminds its readers that
the previous religious leader of Iran, Ayatollah
Khomeini, whose forces lost in this vote, used to call
the United States "The Great Satan."
VOICE: Last weekend, the theocratic edifice crumbled
further. Voters gave firm control of the parliament
to reformers and, in the process, gave [President]
Khatami at least the chance of finally pushing through
some of the changes the conservative mullahs have
managed to frustrate... the will of the people has to
count for something, even in Iran, and the election
results put the burden on the clergy to either respect
that will or ... Suffer the consequences of defying
it. Iran is ready for reform.
TEXT: However, in Denver, foreign affairs columnist
Holger Jensen at the Rocky Mountain News, cautions
people not to misunderstand the results.
VOICE: It's not that Iranians are not devout Muslims.
Most of them are. But ... they would like to see
their mullahs move out of politics and back into the
pulpit.
TEXT: In Texas, The Fort Worth Star-Telegram says not
just the United States, but the whole region, is
pleased with the results.
VOICE: The election results... have been greeted with
great optimism by regional neighbors, such as Turkey,
the United Arab Emirates and Israel, by some western
European countries, by China, and of course, by the
United States.
TEXT: On that note, we conclude this sampling of U-S
press reaction to the parliamentary election in Iran
in which reform candidates swept to victory.
NEB/ANG/JP
22-Feb-2000 13:47 PM EDT (22-Feb-2000 1847 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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