How well are hard-liners running Tehran?

The city engineer leans over the map of Tehran, pointing to a segment of freeway to the northeast - the strip of concrete where he says he experienced an unlikely political epiphany.

Two years ago, Iranian hard-liners had just taken control of the city council, promising to turn Tehran into a "model Islamic city." With revolutionary zeal the council quickly overcame bureaucratic hurdles and finished the Sayyad Shirazi freeway project, which had been stalled for years.

The hard-liners' ambition: An example of efficiency in Tehran that would spread political support for radical factions across Iran, ensuring victory over reformers in parliament and even in presidential elections slated for June.

But the impressive start did not last, and the Tehran case study for fundamentalist rule, say analysts, has instead turned into a political liability.

"My colleagues and I were so happy because our job was having a direct impact on improving people's lives," says the engineer, who asked not to be named. "I became hopeful, and thought: 'Here comes a group that I do not like, but has the connections, the will, and the ability to get something done.'"

And get things done, it did. The council began to turn cultural centers and art galleries into mosques, and canceled "un-Islamic" programs. Prostitutes were chased off the streets. The municipality gave interest-free loans to newlyweds.

Mayor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is pushing plans for a monorail to help ease traffic congestion. Gone are the days of council infighting that marked previous administrations of the moderate, reformist camp. Though entered in the World Mayor 2005 internet contest, ideological nepotism appears to have stalled many infrastructure projects.

"Immediately after [hard-liners] came, there was progress, suddenly there were no dead-ends," the engineer recalls. "But this new group overemphasized ideological credentials in projects. When there is a push to finish a project for a big revolutionary anniversary, it gets done," he adds, folding the Tehran map. "Otherwise, there are problems."

The result, say critics and supporters, is more traffic and pollution in a city of some eight million people. "The city council is a model of working without tension, but people expect more than no tension - the council needs brilliant works, a brilliant plan," says Amir Mohebian, political editor of the conservative newspaper, Resalat. He adds that more important than revolutionary ideals "are good education, good money to solve problems, and good programs."

Dismissed by critics as fundamentalists incapable of running a modern city, the council was elected in a February 2003 vote that saw only a 12 percent turnout. Iran's reformist majority, disillusioned with the failure of their champion President Mohamad Khatami, did not turn out to vote.

Page: 1 | 2