* Week-long campaign begins amid high tensions with West
* Clerical, political conservatives vie for upper hand
* Khamenei's backers seen having edge over Ahmadinejad
TEHRAN, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Iran's week-long
parliamentary election campaign began on Thursday, the official
IRNA news agency said, a vote likely to highlight the popularity
of the clerical establishment as it stands firm against Western
pressure to curb its nuclear work.
It is shaping up as a contest among clerical and political
conservatives on March 2, the first nationwide vote since the
disputed 2009 re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that
sparked eight months of unrest and a crushing state response.
With a no-show by leading pro-reform groups, loyalists of
Iran's most powerful figure, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
Khamenei, and backers of Ahmadinejad, who is not a cleric, will
compete for a majority of the 290-seat parliament.
Khamenei's supporters, sharply critical of Ahmadinejad's
economic policies, look set to win the vote as international
sanctions imposed over Tehran's disputed nuclear programme make
life harder for ordinary Iranians.
"The 3,444 candidates running for parliamentary elections
have started the campaigning by mainly handing out fliers and
raising posters on Thursday," IRNA reported.
The streets of Tehran lacked the lively mood of an election.
There were sporadic banners in some major squares and streets
but most of them bore pictures of Khamenei, as both camps were
trying to take advantage of his popularity to attract votes.
"Organizing the country requires a capable parliament which
can be achieved by active participation in elections," read a
purple banner in central Tehran.
More than 48 million Iranians are eligible to vote.
Pro-reform groups decided to maintain a low profile by
keeping leading figures out of the vote, saying their demand for
a "free and fair" election was not fulfilled.
The candidacies of some 35 percent of those who sought to
run for parliament were rejected by the Guardian Council, a
powerful vetting body made up of six clerics and six jurists.
Many Ahmadinejad supporters were barred, politicians say.
REFORMIST LEADERS MARGINALISED
Leaders of Iran's pro-reform opposition have been sidelined
since the 2009 vote, with two of them, Mirhossein Mousavi and
Mehdi Karoubi, under house arrest since February 2011.
Mousavi and Karoubi both lost to Ahmadinejad in the 2009
vote and insist it was rigged to secure his re-election.
Khamenei swiftly endorsed Ahmadinejad's return to power but
a rift between the two leaders opened up after the president
tried to gain more power by undermining the role of the clergy
in the Islamic Republic.
The rift surfaced in April when Khamenei reinstated an
intelligence minister Ahmadinejad had sacked.
Debates among political figures have started on state
television, focusing mainly on the fading economy whose troubles
have been blamed on Ahmadinejad's cuts in food and fuel
subsidies as well as Western sanctions aimed at forcing Tehran
to halt its uranium enrichment programme.
Parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a hardline rival of
Ahmadinejad, called on candidates to avoid "disappointing people
with critical debates and campaigning".
"The international situation and people's living conditions
have brought about enough hopelessness. Candidates should
encourage people to the polls by creating hope among them," the
Arman daily quoted him on Thursday as saying.
Prices of goods have spiralled in recent weeks because of
the plummeting value of the Iranian currency, the rial, and the
squeeze from international sanctions on Iran's financial
institutions imposed over its nuclear programme.
(Writing by Zahra Hosseinian, Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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