Iran Election Bill

The Interior Minister of Iran, Abdullah Noori, has announced that the government will submit a bill to parliament which would change radically the way Iranian elections are run.

The bill proposes ending the supervisory role of the Guardian Council: a clerical body that has the power of veto over all election candidates.

Last year the Guardian Council allowed four candidates to contest the Presidency out of a possible six-hundred, and correspondents say it wields even more power over parliamentary elections.

The Guardian Council is controlled by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Khamanei.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service