The race for Iran's presidency hotted up on Saturday as the two key moderate opponents of hard-line incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad formally registered to stand against him in the June election. Mir Hossein Mousavi, a former prime minister who steered Iran's economy during the brutal war with Saddam Hussein in the 1980s, has the support of reformist former president Mohammad Khatami.
Former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi is one of the few Iranian politicians who has dared to criticise Ahmadinejad over his dismissal of the Holocaust as a "myth." They join the conservative former head of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corp, Mohsen Rezai, who like Ahmadinejad registered his candidacy on Friday.
"The conditions today are not the best or what the Iranian people deserve," Mousavi said after submitting his bid to the interior ministry. "I have come to defend the freedom of thought and expression, to pursue constructive interaction and better ties between Iran and the world," he said as dozens of his supporters shouted slogans backing his candidacy.
Mousavi, who describes himself as a "reformist who refers to the principles" of the 1979 Islamic revolution, has promised to change Iran's "extremist" image around the world but also to pursue its controversial nuclear programme. Mousavi was Iran's last prime minister as the post was abolished in 1989. With his bid for the presidency, he is seeking a comeback after two decades in the political wilderness.
As he registered his candidacy, Karroubi, a veteran reformist who is now 72, called on the Iranian authorities to respect the verdict of the people. He said the June 12 election was a "crucial test" for both the Ahmadinejad government and the powerful Guardians Council, the hard-line body which vets all candidates for election.
Describing the Ahmadinejad government as "incapable and unfit" to run the country, Karroubi said he was "standing for change". In a June 2005 letter to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, he blamed his defeat on "illegal interference" by the Revolutionary Guards and their Basij militia. On Saturday, he demanded that the Revolutionary Guards "not interfere" in this year's election.
Whoever wins the June election will take over the presidency at a key time when the new US administration of President Barack Obama has been making overtures to Iran. Although major foreign policy issues remain the preserve of the supreme leader Khamenei, the outcome could influence the success of any rapprochement between Tehran and Washington, which have had no diplomatic relations since the aftermath of the 1979 revolution.
Comments
Comments are closed.