109 liberal Iranian MPs resign

More than 100 liberal Iranian legislators handed in their resignations yesterday, deepening a crisis over this month’s parliamentary elections that was sparked after a hard-line body disqualified hundreds of would-be candidates.

A letter of resignation signed by 109 legislators was submitted to parliamentary speaker Mahdi Karrubi by reformist legislators who said they could not go ahead with the February 20 elections.

In a letter read aloud in the 290-seat Majlis, or parliament, liberal lawmaker Rajab Ali Mazrouie said that the result of elections held under restrictions imposed by the hard-line Guardian Council would be a foregone conclusion.

“An election whose result is clear beforehand is a treason to the rights and ideals of the nation,” the lawmaker told some 200 legislators attending yesterday’s session.

He said such elections would be “illegitimate and unacceptable to the nation.”