Iranians over the age of 16 will be eligible to vote for the 86 members of the Assembly of Experts, a key legal and religious body charged with overseeing the performance of the Vali-E-Faqih, or Supreme leader -- a post currently held by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Prominent religious and political personalities have joined the official media in calling for ``massive'' participation, hoping for a repeat of the spectacular 88 per cent turnout recorded in the May 1997 presidential vote.

Mohammad Khatami, a moderate cleric, was elected President with 70 per cent, or 20 million votes, in that election, mainly benefiting from the support of the young and of women.

About 39 million people are eligible to vote in Friday's election. The official campaign, spearheaded by the state broadcastingorganisation, has been all the more vigorous to overcome a seeming general apathy and mounting criticism of the disqualification of many hopefuls, most of whom were Khatami supporters.

Voters have been told that voting amounts to a ``sacred duty'' and a ``punch in the jaw of Islam's enemies. Men, women and especially the young must go and vote to ensure the disappointment of the enemies of Islam,'' Khamenei told a public meeting.

The President has more demurely called for ``enthusiastic participation,'' while criticising the authorities ``for not having created conditions needed to encourage a large number of candidates to present themselves''.

In expectations of a low turnout, some officials have been insisting that the legitimacy of the Islamic regime will not be affected by the level of voter participation.

``Our regime gets its legitimacy from God,'' said the conservative speaker of parliament, Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri. ``Those who say the legitimacy of the leader depends on his popularity do notunderstand it.''

Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi, the moderate former mayor of Tehran agreed: ``The legitimacy of the Assembly of Experts is not subject to the number of people who vote.''

Candidates for Friday's election were tightly screened by the Council of Guardians, exclusively empowered to approve suitable candidates on the basis of their ability to interpret religious tenets and their firm allegiance to the regime.

The Council of Guardians approved 167, less than half of the 396 who signed up for the race. Most of them were prominent members of the conservative clergy and supporters of Khamenei -- groups which already dominate the Assembly.

Nine female and 40 secular candidates were among those rejected, as well as a considerable number of new-thinking young clerics. The radical Left faction, which along with the moderates tends to support the President, has been left with barely a dozen candidates. But the moderates, led by the Servants of Construction party, have decided to field candidates,through criticising the ``unfair'' race.