A group of 109 reformist Iranian MPs rendered their resignation Sunday to protest against a decision by the hardline Guardians Council to disqualify hundreds of reformer candidates from the Feb. 20 parliamentary elections.  

A resignation letter signed by the lawmakers has been presented to Parliament Speaker Mahdi Karrubi. And it was read out in the 290-seat Majlis, or parliament, during a stormy session broadcast live on state radio.

The political crisis came as the Guardians Council disqualified 3,605 out of the 7,900 candidates who registered to run for a seat in this month's elections.

The Interior Ministry had demanded the Guardians Council postpone the elections. Dozens of lawmakers have been staging a sit-in over the past two weeks.

After a final review of the blacklist, the Guardians Council late on Friday lifted the ban on 1,160 candidates. But Iranian reformers have complained that the number blacklisted was still too high.

Those barred, allegedly for not respecting Islam or the constitution, included some 80 incumbent lawmakers and prominent figures of the reform movement.

(Xinhua News Agency February 1, 2004)