Jawadi Hesar: Public Opinion Should Judge Ahmadinejad in Upcoming Elections

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has strongly attacked Hassan Rouhani during a speech. In the former president's speech on Wednesday in Ahvaz, his ally Hamid Baghaei was present. Baghaei, one of Ahmadinejad's deputies, has announced his candidacy for the elections on May 29, and the former president supports his candidacy. Political analyst Mohammad Sadegh Jawadi Hesar believes that Hassan Rouhani has a good chance of winning the presidential elections and evaluates his government's record in lifting the country from international sanctions and the negative growth during Ahmadinejad's presidency as significant. He tells Radio Farda that in the upcoming elections, public opinion should judge Mr. Ahmadinejad. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has banned Ahmadinejad from running for president and emphasized that he does not want a bipolarization of the country in the upcoming elections. Rouhani's government has consistently complained about the problems stemming from Ahmadinejad's policies. Some senior officials from the previous government, including Hamid Baghaei and Mohammad Reza Rahimi, have faced corruption and embezzlement cases during Rouhani's presidency and have been imprisoned. Several political experts consider Ahmadinejad and his allies to be a faction separate from the principlist camp, although this label became common in the political discourse of the Islamic Republic since his rise to power.