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Summary of Iran Stories of Today's BroadcastsBehnam NateghiSaturday, January 04, 2003
<b>Iranians Shun Local Councils Elections</b>
* A day before the deadline expires for registration of applicants for candidacy in the local councils elections, only 51,000 people have applied to stand for election to 170,000 seats, according to Mohammad-Ali Moshfeq, the interior ministry's director of elections. The moderate daily <i>Entekhab</i> called it a blow to President Khatami, who has always boasted of wide participation in elections. The pro-Khatami party the Participation Front (Jebheh-ye Mosharekat) and other reformists called for greater participation of people in the local councils elections. (Ali Sajjadi, Washington)
* The statements of pro-reform parties show that the lukewarm participation of people in the local elections has little to do with factional dispute. Observers see it a result of public frustration with the local councils in general. (Bahman Bastani, Prague)
<b>Officials Differ on the Balance of Iran's Foreign Exchange Reserve</b>
* The central bank governor announced that there is $7.1 billion in Iran's foreign exchange reserve fund, but the economic deputy of the management and budget organization put the fund's balance at zero. Meanwhile, a trustee of the fund said it has more than $6 billion on deposit and another trustee put the total on deposit at only $4 billion. The foreign exchange reserve fund was created by the Third Five-Year Development Plan as insurance against falling oil prices. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Congressman Sherman on US-Iran Relations</b>
* US Congressman Brad Sherman (D-California) tells young Iranians in an interview with <b>Radio Farda</b> that freedom will prevail in Iran but that Iran, with its strong cultural heritage, would not become a mirror of the US. He added that Iran would have a better relationship with the US if the Iranian people were allowed to elect their leaders. The US looks forward to a democratic Iran, which would have no better friend than the US, he noted. (Mahtab Farid, Washington)
<b>Shah's Finance Minister on the Crumbling Revoluton</b>
* In an article for the quarterly magazine <i>Foreign Affairs</i> the World Bank's senior advisor and former finance minister under the Shah, Jahangir Amuzgar, writes that the 1979 Islamic Revolution is being challenged by the young generation who consider Ayatollah Khomeini's promise of a free and democratic society a deception. He writes that the US can help the Iranian people by supporting anti-regime movements, financing foreign-based radio and TV broadcasts to Iran and internationally condemning the rule of the ayatollahs. (Maryam Ahmadi, Washington)
<b>Trade Volume Falls in the Tehran Exchange</b>
* Iran's closed economy usually protects stock investors from the fluctuations in the world economy, but in past five days, volume dropped by 51 percent and the number of buyers dropped by 19 percent, proving that like stock exchanges in the rest of the world, the Tehran exchange cannot be immune to the prospect of the possible US attack on Iraq. (Fereydoun Khavand, Paris)
<b>Fuel Smuggling to Pakistan</b>
* The director of economic coordination for the Sistan-va-Baluchestan province said more than 500,000 liters of heavily-subsidized oil products are being smuggled to neighboring Pakistan per day. (Kian Manavi, Prague)
<b>US-Iran Friendship Treaty</b>
* Abuala Soudavar, who has sued the US for discriminating against Iranians in the airports and at border crossings, tells <b>Radio Farda</b> that according to the 1955 US-Iran Friendship Treaty, which is a Supreme Law of the Land, Iranians are entitled to any special treatment that the US gives to any other third-party. (Behnam Nateghi, New York)
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روزنامه انتخاب، چاپ تهران، استقبال سرد مردم به خصوص در شهرهاي بزرگ از ثبت نام براي نامزدي در انتخابات شورا هاي محلي، را ضربه اي به محمدخاتمي، رئيس جمهوري اسلامي تعبير كرد كه به مشاركت گسترده مردم در انتخابات به خود مي باليد. در حاليكه تنها يك روز ديگر به پايان مهلت ثبت نام داوطلبان نامزدي در انتخابات شوراهاي اسلامي محلي باقي مانده است، محمد علي مشفق، مديركل انتخابات وزارت كشور اعلام كرد تنها 51 هزار نفر براي نامزدي عضويت در 32 هزار شوراي محلي ثبت نام كرده اند، در حاليكه برپايه قانون شوراها، تعداد كل اعضاي اين نهاد در ايران 170 هزار نفر است و اگر قانون جديد شوراها كه در مجلس تصويب شده، به تصويب شوراي نگهبان برسد، اين رقم به 400 هزارنفر افزايش مي يابد. گزارش ها نشان مي دهد در نخستين دوره تشكيل شوراهاي اسلامي محلي، شوراهاي روستا بهتر از شوراهاي شهرهاي بزرگ عمل كردند. در تهران، نامزدهاي عضويت به دو هزار نفر رسيد و نام محمد جواد مظفر، مصطفي تاج زاده، حميد رضا جلائي پور، از اعضاي شوراي مركزي جبهه مشاركت ايران اسلامي، و الهه راستگو، نماينده پيشين مجلس در ميان آنها به چشم مي خورد. جبهه مشاركت عليرغم تهديد به خروج از حاكميت، از مردم خواست در انتخابات شورا شركت كنند.
