Over 2,000 candidates barred from Iran elections

Thousands of candidates deemed unsuitable by Iran’s Guardian Council, the conservative constitutional watchdog closely allied with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, have been barred from running in the country’s upcoming elections, The Associated Press reported Wednesday.

Ali Reza Afshar, a top Interior Ministry official in charge of elections, announced that out of 7,200 proposed candidates 5,000 remain.

According to the article, the “Council’s chief, Ayatollah Ahmad Jannati, a key Ahmadinejad ally, said last month that any candidate determined by the Council to be disloyal to the principles of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution would be barred from running.”

There has been widespread criticism of the disqualifications from reformist groups, some of whom had all of their candidates rejected.

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