Iranian reformists acknowledged on Sunday they faced defeat in this week's parliamentary election, which they say has been rigged by hard-liners.
A hard-line watchdog's disqualification of 2,500 candidates from Friday's ballot has split reformists into two camps - those who refuse to take part in the vote and those who say it is important to try to keep even a small presence in parliament.
Ali Akbar Mohtashamipour, spokesman for the Coalition for Iran - a group of eight pro-reform parties which is the main reformist bloc contesting the election - said reformists would "only form a minority" in the next assembly.
Reformist allies of President Mohammad Khatami hold about 200 seats in the outgoing parliament but more than 80 reformist legislators have been barred from standing for re-election.
Comparing the vote to a race between two drivers - one in a modern luxury car, the other in an old car with a flat tyre - Mohtashamipour said even winning a minority of seats "would be a victory for the people and failure for the conservatives".
Reformist legislator Jamileh Kadivar agreed.
"Our historical duty is to defend the reforms until the last moment, even if only one of our deputies is elected," she was quoted as saying by the liberal Etemad newspaper on Sunday.
Iran's biggest reformist parties are boycotting the vote. The Interior Ministry said on Sunday 607 out of some 5,600 candidates approved to run have now withdrawn from the race.
A group of legislators who spearheaded protests against the candidate bans said on Sunday reformist candidates would be unable to compete for dozens of parliament's 290 seats.
"It is not possible to have serious and effective competition in 109 constituencies, and 132 candidates - who are the main candidates of those staging this coup d'etat - will get into parliament even with the minimum number of votes," the deputies said in the statement faxed to Reuters.
Iran's main pro-reform student group, the Office to Consolidate Unity (OCU), on Sunday strongly criticised Khatami for agreeing to hold the election.
"By accepting to hold the elections...Khatami has proved that he prioritises the demands of senior officials and religious decrees at the price of sacrificing justice, freedom and people's rights," the OCU said in a statement.
The students called on voters to shun the vote.
"The number of votes cast (on Friday) will be a symbolic referendum measuring the legitimacy of the establishment in the eyes of Iranian citizens," they said.
The OCU statement was a further blow to Khatami whose 1997 and 2001 election wins were backed by millions of young Iranians excited by his reformist message.
But the mid-ranking cleric's inability to break resistance from religious hard-liners to his calls for greater social and personal freedoms has seen his popularity plunge, particularly among the two in three Iranians who are under 30
Conservatives say those banned were unfit for office and accuse them of trying to turn Iran, which is marking the 25th anniversary of its Islamic revolution, into a secular state.
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