Iranian Clerics Urge Big Turnout in Leadership Vote

Some Reformists Call for Boycott

TEHRAN, June 3 -- From the pulpit, the ayatollah urged a massive turnout at polling places two weeks from Friday, when Iran will elect a new president.

"Our enemies, especially the United States, are saying that the fewer people show up at the election, the less powerful the state will be," said Ayatollah Emami Kashani, addressing several thousand worshipers at Friday prayers.

Some reform advocates, however, have called for a boycott of the balloting, a move they contend would highlight the need for fundamental change in a system whose top leaders are unelected.

Profoundly disappointed by the pace of progress during the two four-year terms of President Mohammad Khatami, the reformists say it's no longer worth trying to change Iran's theocratic system from within.

Kashani, a white-bearded cleric whose own senior position was never on a public ballot, is a symbol of the system. He holds a seat on the Expediency Council, one of three appointive bodies that outrank the presidency in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Those elite bodies, each dominated by unelected clerics, answer only to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. As Supreme Leader of the Revolution, Khamenei is at the pinnacle of authority in theocratic Iran, with powers as superlative as his title.

"He has been elected by God," Mohebali Darabie, 56, said of Khamenei from his usher's post at the rear of the pavilion where Kashani addressed the graying faithful. "It's not the people who are electing him."

And that, according to the system's critics, is the basic problem.

"The free election we have here is a mere play, because we've got a person at the top who has absolute power," said Akbar Ganji, a reformist leader just freed from five years in prison. Ganji spoke in his modestly furnished living room, looking vibrant if a bit thin from the hunger strike that preceded his release Monday.

"What I am saying is our priority should be an election for the [supreme] leader," Ganji said. "He's been ruling for 16 years, and he's got a life term. This is not compatible with democratic values. The era of rulers for life is over. Sixteen years is enough for him."

Ganji, a sociologist and journalist jailed after he uncovered the state's role in the murders of prominent reformists, stands out among Iranian activists urging a boycott of the June 17 election.

"I believe boycotting the election will delegitimize the system as a whole," he said. His view is shared by other recently released political prisoners and the most prominent group of student activists, the Office for Fostering Unity.