However after his Principalist comrades ignored the general consensus of the Council, Nateq Nourithe former Speaker of Majlis (parliament) withdrew from participation in all national elections. But whenever he opines on an issue both his friends and enemies speculate that some are going to introduce him as a candidate for the 11thpresidential election of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
A number of Iranian news websites lately said that Nateq Nouri had decided to announce his candidacy for the upcoming election as his friends have warmly welcomed his decision and his enemies have tried to do their best to prevent him from running for the poll, whether by causing disturbance at his lecturers or spreading rumors about him. He has been a prominent critic of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Ahmadinejad has raised corruption charges against him.
From the start of the new Iranian year (began on March 21)he decided to keep silent, but delivering a lecture in August put him once again in the spotlight of the media as he referred by implication to the indifference of Ahmadinejad's government to the ongoing managerial and economic problems of the country:
“The Iranian people expect nothing from the officials. Their character must not be humiliated but it seems that some officials don't care about them.”
Stressing on justice in all economic and political grounds comprised the other part of his remarks: “I would say directly and briefly that in order to take up office, we must not violate the rights of the other people. In running for an election, we must not disrepute our rivals to receive more votes. Such an approach is not congruous with justice and the Shiite school ofImam Ali (AS).”
Those comments caused a group of Basiji students to disrupt his lecture andthis way disrespect the head of the Inspection Office of Supreme Leader [Ayatollah Ali Khamenei].
In the meantime, some figures have come to back him. A member of Iran's Expediency Council Habibollah Asgaroladi, a veteran principalist political activist said: “The Islamic World is looking for figures like Hashemi Rafsanjani (head of the Expediency Council) and Nateq Nouri (who is a senior advisor to the Supreme Leader).”
The notable point is thatthe both eminent figures of the Islamic Republichave under the attack of Ahmadinejad and his aidesin recent years. Elsewhere in an interview Nateq Nouri responded to the accusations leveled against aim by Ahmadinejad: “If I had violated the law, why wasn't I reproached? Why didn't they investigate my case to see whether I have done something wrong or not?” adding that, “If our current constitution is enforced, the problems of the country will be resolved,” which led some to speculate that he intends to run for the presidential election of 2013.
Although the media affiliated to Ahmadinejad's administration try to represent him as a character “under the heavy pressure of the public opinion”who“is experiencing a long-term isolation”, Nateq Nouri is still a heavyweight in the principalist camp and on the political scene of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
On the political scene of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the name of Ali Akbar NateqNourihas been entangled with the national electionswhether at the time he was the Interior Minister or when he was the organizer of national elections, whether he ran for the election of 1997 and after the landslide victory of Mohammad Khatami bigheartedlycongratulated him orwhen as the head of the Council for Coordination of the Islamic Revolution Forces led the Principalist political faction in the country.
News ID 183267
