TEHRAN, 20 February 2004 — Iran yesterday angrily hit back at what it said were “unacceptable and interventionist comments” from the United States and European Union over the Islamic republic’s controversial elections.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told the state news agency IRNA that foreign critics of Friday’s parliamentary elections were “not informed of the realities and the complexities of developments under way in Iran.”
On Monday, the United States said the elections — won by religious hard-liners and conservatives — did not meet “international standards” and were “deeply flawed”, given that most reformists were barred from even standing.
And a statement by foreign ministers of the European Union — Iran’s largest trading partner — called the election a “setback for democracy”.
Meanwhile, eight women have secured seats in the 290-seat Iranian Parliament, fewer than the outgoing Parliament, which had 13 female parliamentarians, the Interior Ministry announced yesterday.
Two women were directly elected, having secured more than 25 percent of the votes. The two women, one from the central district of Isfahan and the other from Khalkhal in northwestern Iran, are likely to be joined by six women from Tehran, even though the final results have not yet been announced in the capital.
Nine female candidates will go forward to the second round of voting, having failed to gain the required 25 percent of the vote.
The second round, involving more than 100 hopefuls, is expected to take place in April, but even after the second round, the total of female parliamentarians is unlikely to equal the outgoing 13. The new legislative term starts in May.
