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TEHRAN-Iran's supreme leader implicitly endorsed hardliners seeking to tighten their grip on parliament by urging voters on Wednesday to shun candidates backed by Western "enemies" in Friday's election."Whoever is favored by our enemies to be in the ruling and legislative bodies of our country should not be sent there because he would act as the enemies want," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a speech broadcast on state television.It was the clearest statement yet by Khamenei, Iran's highest authority, on the March 14 vote to the 290-seat legislature which conservatives are confident of winning after many leading reformists were barred from running.
And his comments were likely to please President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has stonewalled the United States and its Western allies with hardline rhetoric over Iran's nuclear program.
Friday's vote is a popularity test for Ahmadinejad, who is expected to seek re-election in 2009 despite being criticized at home for his foreign and economic policies."Whoever Iran's enemy does not want ... in parliament should be there because he would serve Iran's interests," Khamenei said.He did not name reform-minded groups seeking political and social change, who conservatives portray as Western lackeys bidding to undermine the Islamic state.Reformist leaders reject these allegations but say the odds of winning seats are heavily stacked against them after their leading candidates were banned in a pre-vote vetting process.
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