Iran's hardline Guardian Council has rejected an electoral reform bill aimed at reversing its decision to ban hundreds of reformist candidates from standing for parliamentary elections, MPs said today.
Iran 's reformist-dominated parliament passed the emergency reform proposal on Sunday in a clear act of defiance aimed at the Guardian Council, which has vetoed almost half of the 8,200 aspirants from running in the February 20th election.
But the council - an unelected 12-member body comprised of conservative clerics and Islamic jurists - used its sweeping powers to reject the reform bill.
Dozens of officials in reformist President Mohammad Khatami's government have threatened to resign unless the candidate bans are overturned.