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Khatami to challenge Ahmadinejad

Mohammad Khatami

DUBAI: The former President, Mohammad Khatami’s announcement on Sunday that he would run again for presidency during the June elections is stirring a lively debate in Tehran.

“I would like to announce my candidacy for the upcoming presidential elections,” Mr. Khatami told reporters on Sunday, reported Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA).

The announcement came amid speculation in some quarters in Tehran that Mr. Khatami might not be final choice from the reformist camp.

Iranian media had earlier reported that Mr. Khatami had shown his readiness to back the former Prime Minister, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, for the presidency.

However, he had given Mr. Mousavi a February 10 deadline to announce his candidacy.

Mr. Mousavi is well regarded in Iran for the manner in which he handled the administration during the eight year Iran-Iraq war in the eighties.

In an earlier report, Iran’s Press TV said Mr. Khatami wanted the reformist camp to introduce three reserve candidates to replace him, in case he decided to withdraw midway from the contest.

Apart from Mr. Mousavi, Mr. Khatami favoured the former head of the Budget and Planning Organisation, Mohammad Ali Najafi, and the former First Vice-President, Mohammad-Reza Aref.

Mr. Khatami served as President for two terms, securing nearly 70 per cent of the ballots cast during the 1997 presidential elections.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is widely expected to run for a second term in June.

His close adviser Ali-Akbar Javanfekr had said in late January the President would run again so that he could complete the programmes that he had started after assuming the presidential office in 2005.

Despite Mr. Ahmadinejad’s much anticipated status as a front runner, the secretary-general of the Loyalists of the Islamic Revolution Party (LIRP) is of the view that a candidate from the conservative camp must be chosen on the basis of primaries which should be held well ahead of the elections.

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