President Mohammad Khatami on Monday urged Iranians to use their votes in parliamentary elections this week to prevent hard-liners from seizing control of the assembly through a low turnout. Reformist allies of the president accuse the unelected Shiite Guardian Council of rigging Friday's poll by banning more than 2,500 mostly reformist candidates from standing. But Khatami said that while the election may be unfair, voters could still prevent a conservative landslide. "Even though at one stage there was some unfairness against parliamentarians and other qualified candidates, if people don't turn out it will open the way for a minority to control the fate of the country," the president said in a statement published by the official IRNA news agency. "Surely there are many people who feel that in many constituencies, they don't have their favorite candidates, but they can choose the ones who have ideas which are closest to theirs," he said. Several reformist parties, including the largest one, the Islamic Iran Participation Front headed by Khatami's younger brother Mohammad Reza, are boycotting the ballot. "It is impossible for us to participate in an election that is not legal and not free," Mohammad Reza Khatami told Reuters in an interview Monday. Mohammad Reza, who won the largest number of votes in 2000 parliamentary elections when reformists took control of the assembly, is among some 80 sitting deputies disqualified by the Guardian Council as unislamic or disloyal to the constitution. **Harbinger for Presidential Vote*** Political analysts say the parliamentary vote is a likely harbinger for presidential elections next year. They expect well-known reformists to be barred from running, enabling conservatives fiercely loyal to Islamic values to complete a comeback which began with local council elections last year. The banning of candidates has failed to ignite much interest in the election among ordinary Iranians disenchanted with politics after seven years of largely unfulfilled promises of reform under Khatami's government. "My guess is that in big cities under 20 percent of voters will come to the ballot boxes," Mohammad Reza Khatami said. "I think the percentage across the country will be under 50 percent... A majority of young people will not come and vote." Turnout in the 2000 parliamentary vote was 67 percent. Some reformist parties, however, have decided to contest the election in the hope of retaining a voice in parliament. "We believe that our presence is more useful than just not participating," Mehdi Karroubi, outgoing parliament speaker, told a news conference. "It's not a fair election because of wide disqualifications, but we can discuss if it's a free election or not, because people are free to vote or not," said Karroubi, a member of the pro-reform League of Combatant Clerics to which President Khatami also belongs. He said the Coalition for Iran, whose candidate list he leads, had a slate of some 205 "independents, reformists and moderate conservatives" contesting the 290 seats. The Interior Ministry said that by late Sunday, 679 out of 5,600 candidates approved to run had withdrawn from the race. **PHOTO CAPTION*** President Mohammad Khatami, seen here 11 February 2004, urged Iranians to turn out and vote in parliamentary elections this week to prevent hardliners from winning. (AFP/File/Atta Kenare)