TEHRAN A gathering of political parties to elect representatives in charge of drawing up the manifesto of Iranian House of Parties was held here yesterday for the first time in the history of Iran. Some 140 representatives of the political parties and factions attended the elections.

Jamileh Kadivar, who represented Iranian Women Journalists in the gathering, told the TEHRAN TIMES in an exclusive interview that parties are intermediators between the people and government and they should inform the country's officials of viewpoints and demands of people.

"Parties can provide the ground for activities of young forces who are willing to have political activities and can hold educational courses for them, she added.

Kadivar, also an MP from Tehran, said, "One of the weak points of our parties is that they are young and are not as experienced as the parties in developed countries. This has created problems for the parties in our society."

Another weak point is lack of culture for holding a party, she said adding that tendency toward individual activities and the negative record of certain parties in the past resulted in reluctancy of people to join parties.

Member of Iranian Women Journalists said the parties currently exist in an improper atmosphere. In fact, they should try to remove the existing negative atmosphere in order to improve the image of parties among people.

She added that the parties should introduce their programs and their views on political, social, economic and cultural issues to people, so that they can differ the parties from each other.

Speaking to the TEHRAN TIMES, the Interior Ministry's director general for political affairs and advisor to the minister elaborated on the objectives of Iranian House of Parties.

Javad Haq-Shenas said defending the legal rights of parties, attempts to create a healthy political atmosphere in the country, promotion of culture of the parties and maintaining the security of political activities are among the objectives of the Parties' House.

Among other goals are providing financial support for political parties in the framework of law and creating the spirit of cooperation among them.

The secretary of Article 10 Commission of Parties added that activities of parties in Iran have an old record, but the law of parties was approved by Majlis in 1981.

At present some 140 parties are active in the country, he said.