Iranian Opposition to Meet at Sweden Conference

Some 50 exiled members of the Iranian opposition and civil society will meet in Stockholm at the weekend to discuss how to help implement democracy in Iran, organizers said Tuesday.

The two-day conference "will gather leading representatives from different parts of the opposition outside the country as well as writers, activists and university professors outside Iran," the Olof Palme Center said in a statement.

The "Unity for Democracy in Iran" conference will aim to "make it possible for different parts of the opposition to meet and discuss how they can coordinate their efforts for democracy in Iran," it said.

Iran is holding a parliamentary election on March 2, in what is seen as a tussle between two conservative camps, the supporters and opponents of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

"People from the opposition have turned to us with a request for support in making it possible for the different parts of the opposition to be gathered. They have also sought advice on how to coordinate their work," Olof Palme Centre head Jens Orback said in the statement.

The conference, which is part of the center’s efforts to support opposition movements within authoritarian states, will be closed to the media.

The center was created to work for democracy, human rights, and peace in memory of Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme who was gunned down by a lone attacker in February 1986, shortly after leaving a Stockholm cinema.