Press reflects Iran election turmoil

Uncertainty over the future of next month's parliamentary elections in Iran continues to worry the country's press.

One daily believes the turmoil will deter the electorate from voting, and another urges the powerful Guardians Council to state openly what it is seeking to achieve by banning a large number of candidates from standing.

The reformist daily Sharq warns that unless swift action is taken, MPs will resign en masse.

"This option seems the more likely unless leaders take immediate and effective steps to end the crisis."

Why vote?

The conservative daily Khorasan points its finger at all sides in the stand-off, blaming them for what it sees as "the people's sense of despondency and disenchantment".

"The people are asking themselves a serious question: Why should we vote?"

In a criticism aimed at the reformists, it accuses them of behaving "like drowning people clutching at straws".

If the people really feel free and confident, voter turnout could be impressive Iran Daily commentator

"The people have a right to ask: why now? Why, when the knife is held to your neck, have you started to protest?"

A centre-right daily, Entekhab, insists that Guardian Council "should be transparent and should provide an explanation for its reasoning".

Entekhab also takes to task the state-run radio and television channels which it calls "supporters of the Guardian Council".

It says they "imagine that they are supporting the institution, but instead they are destroying its image".

A hardline daily which supports the country's spiritual leader, Ali Khamenei, reports there was a "commotion" after students at a sit-in over the election stand-off objected to the unrepresentative nature of the statement put out on their behalf.

They "started to voice their criticisms and said that those statements were written by one person in the name of all the students", Kayhan reports.

Optimistic voice

A commentator in the English-language Iran Daily writes that the public is being put off voting by a combination of disappointment with the status quo, a lack of trust in politicians and decline in the popular belief of the legitimacy of civil society.

However, noting the fact that "a large number of relatively young aspirants have nominated themselves for the legislature", his is one of the few relatively optimistic voices.

"If the people really feel free and confident that they can vote for their candidates of choice, voter turnout could be impressive on 20 February," he believes, "provided the ongoing controversy over the performance of the electoral supervisory boards is resolved without further delay."

BBC Monitoring, based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.