TEHRAN, 16 February 2004 — Iran’s embattled reformist camp conceded yesterday it was poised for defeat in next Friday’s Parliament elections, blaming the mass disqualification of its candidates by the Islamic republic’s powerful conservatives.

“We will be a minority in Parliament,” admitted a downbeat Ali Akbar Mohtashami-Pur, spokesman for the Coalition for Iran - a grouping of eight reformist parties and the sole pro-reform bloc contesting the polls.

A powerful hard-line political watchdog, the Guardian Council, has barred thousands of candidates, mainly reformists, from even standing in the Feb. 20 elections. Among those blacklisted were some of the movement’s most prominent figures.

In such circumstances, Mohtashami-Pur said it was inevitable hard-liners and conservatives would sweep to victory and admitted reformists -- who have held the Parliament, or Majlis, since 2000 - had been forced to set their sights low. “This is not a fair competition,” he complained, admitting his bloc - even though broadened to include independent candidates - could only contest 218 of the 290 seats.

“There is such a disproportion, and the conservatives have mobilized far more means than us - so even if we have just one seat, we will have a victory and will have foiled the plans of the conservatives,” he asserted.

The reformist campaign also appeared to be in disarray. He said the grouping had only finalized its candidate list on Saturday, and added that campaign material needed to direct supporters to choosing the right name on the huge electoral lists had not even yet been printed.

Campaigning officially ends at midnight Wednesday. Iran’s main reformist party, the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF) led by the brother of reformist President Mohammad Khatami, has decided to boycott the elections after most of its members ­— including Mohammad Reza Khatami — were blacklisted.

Mohtashami-Pur had been approved to stand, but he confirmed he would not be taking part in a bid to “sound the alarm”.

The admission of defeat - even before a single ballot has been cast - came after one of Iran’s most prominent dissidents declared the regime unreformable and urged passive resistance.

“Organizing an unfree election is an end point for reforms within the regime,” wrote jailed academic Hashem Aghajari, who was condemned to death for blasphemy in 2002 after he questioned the Shiite clergy’s right to rule. He is currently awaiting a review of his sentence.

“We are witnessing a comical repetition of history: In a very short period of time, the democratic face of the Iranian constitution is going to be turned into an autocratic face.”

“The current generation should be given the right to choose their own structure of government and constitution,” said the open letter carried by the student news agency ISNA. “The Iranian people should..., with passive resistance, tell the totalitarians: No”.

Aghajari also hit out at embattled pro-reform president Khatami, who faces holding office as a lame-duck leader until his second and final term ends in 2005. “Alongside this comical repetition of history we are also witnessing a tragedy: the tragedy of Khatami,” he wrote, blasting the mild-mannered cleric for a “lack of will and courage.”

That was backed up a tiny protest of some 40 students, who stood in silence outside Khatami’s office carrying placards including one which stated “We are suffocating” — and others which stated nothing at all.