Speaking to khabar Online, Ghafouri Fard, a member of the presiding board of the Majlis (parliament) who is competing at the second round of the parliamentary election slated for May 4, commented on the reports about the reformists' possible candidates for the upcoming presidential election.
"Mr. Mohammad Reza Aref has always been one of the main nominees of the reformists for the election and actually is the most significant and "possible candidate" whom the reformists camp can count on," he said.
A Stanford University graduate and professor of Sharif University of Technology in Tehran, Aref formerly served as Vice President in Khatami's government and from 1997 to 2000, he was Iran's Minister of Post, Telegraph, and Telephone. Aref is currently a member of the Expediency Council.
Last week a number of Iranian media reported on the possible reformist nominees for the 11th presidential election. They are apparently include: Mohammad Reza Aref; Kamal Kharazi, former Foreign Minister and ambassador of Iran to the United Nations.
Hasan Khomeini, the cleric and religious researcher, the most prominent grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the late Imam Khomeini and an opponent of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's government; Mohammad Khatami and finally Abdollah Nouri former Interior Minister and the most outspoken reformist politician have been regarded as other candidates.
Ghafouri Fard, the representative of Tehran in the Majlis suggested that the candidacy of Mr. Kharazi is mostly unverified, “On the other hand, I suppose Mr. Khatami is not to announce his candidacy, as he withdrew from the presidential election of 2009.”
Responding to the question about the possible nomination of Hasan Khomeini, he said: “I also think it’s implausible that the grandson of Imam Khomeini runs for the presidential election, as he has said he is eager to follow his scholarly works.”
Commenting on the accurate approach the reformists may adopt for the next presidential poll, Ghafouri Fard asserted: “They certainly must express their acquittal from the “sedition of 2009”, otherwise the Guardian Council will not qualify them to run for the election.”
Sedition is a term mostly used by Iranian pro-government officials and Principalists to describe the protests and unrests occurred after the disputed presidential poll of June 2009 when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was reinstated but the opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mahdi Karroubi claimed that the election was rigged.
“I believe it’s improbable that people view favorably the reformists’ acts in a short term,” Ghafouri Fard added.
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