Tehran, Iran ? After weeks of chaos over the disqualification of thousands of parliamentary candidates, Iran’s supreme leader agreed to a formula Wednesday that is expected to reinstate most of those barred — handing reformists a victory in their election battle with hard-line Islamic clerics.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s order that a reformist-led ministry review the disqualifications made by the Guardian Council marked a compromise effort to resolve the standoff over the Feb. 20 vote, Iran’s worse political crisis in years.

Government spokesman Abdollah Ramezanzadeh told reporters after a Cabinet meeting that the Intelligence Ministry will do the review. “Now the authority reviewing (the disqualifications) is the Intelligence Ministry,” he said.

Reza Yousefian, a reformist lawmaker who is among those banned from the ballot, said the review will have nothing to do with the Guardian Council. But he said figures close to the 12-cleric Guardian Council had suggested the body should have the final say.

“The government agreed to hold the elections and the leaders decided the Intelligence Ministry will review the disqualifications and that its decision will not be overruled,” Yousefian added.

That is significant because the Guardian Council, an unelected body that rules this Islamic nation in tandem with the government, has so far resisted all compromise efforts.

Reformists — including President Mohammad Khatami — had threatened to either boycott or refuse to hold a vote they said would be undemocratic because nearly a third of the candidates, all of them reformists, were stricken from the ballots.

It was the second time in a month that Khamenei ordered a review of the disqualification of thousands of lawmakers, 80 of whom were sitting members of parliament.

On Tuesday, Khamenei was reported to have rejected a request by Khatami to postpone the elections.

Reformists called Wednesday’s development a major victory. They had campaigned for weeks with sit-down protests that preceded the resignation of 125 members of the 290-seat parliament on Monday.

Ramezanzadeh, the government spokesman, said Khamenei agreed to the Intelligence Ministry review during a meeting with Khatami on Tuesday.

“We hope to achieve a final result as soon as possible that would allow us to hold an election with a huge turnout,” Ramezanzadeh said.