Tehran - Reformers allied with President Mohammad Khatami scored a spectacular success against conservatives in a high-profile race late last month for Tehran's city council, unofficial results indicated yesterday. Results published by the official IRNA news agency showed reformers sweeping all but two of the capital's 15 council seats in the February 26th poll.
The two others are technocrats jointly presented by a pro-Khatami moderate group and the conservative slate. Two reformers also led a list of six reserves for the Tehran council, followed by an independent and three conservatives. In Rome today, President Khatami on Tuesday begins the first visit to the West by an Iranian head of state since the 1979 Islamic revolution. On Thursday he becomes the first president of the Islamic state to meet Pope John Paul II.