This page was taken from http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/europe/05/02/iran.elections/index.html
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| Khatami could face a woman for the first time in the race for Iranian president | |
TEHRAN, Iran -- A civil servant has become the first woman to stand for Iranian president since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
One of the first candidates to sign up for registration for the June 8 election was Farah khosravi, a junior civil servant.
Little is known about her, but the official Islamic Republic News Agency described her as "liberal minded."
"If women have the right to vote, they have the right to be elected," the Associated Press quoted her as saying.
Khosravi was one of 35 candidates to register, IRNA added.
Interior ministry officials say they expect the reformist president Mohammad Khatami to announce his candidacy soon.
Khatami has remained silent up to now on whether he will seek re-election, but has until May 6 to put his name forward.
Eighteen political groups which support him are scheduled to meet on Saturday, and 220 out of 290 politicians in the Majlis, or parliament, have signed a letter asking him to stand.
Other hopefuls include Mohsen Sazgara, a reformist publisher who was among the pioneers of a reform movement that began after Khatami's 1997 election.
Several of Sazgara's former colleagues have been jailed during a purge of more than 30 pro-democracy newspapers.
The Mujahedeen of the Islamic Revolution, a reformist group, said last week that the election was a referendum on which way the Islamic Revolution should go, the Associated Press said.
The pro-reform Mujahedeen said: "The next election will not simply be an election. It will be a referendum on the essential character of the Islamic Republic."
The Guardian Council has 10 days after Sunday to endorse or reject candidates.
To qualify, candidates must be involved in politics or religion, and must be of Iranian origin, Muslim and "faithful to the cause of the Islamic Republic," IRNA said.
Back to Women in Islam and Christianity.