Mohammad Reza Khatami: Reformists Will Overcome Disqualifications

With less than four months remaining until the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, all factions have been striving to determine strategies for success in these elections. A reformist political activist spoke about the capacity of reformists to achieve victory despite disqualifications. Mohammad Reza Khatami, a member of the Central Council of the Participation Front, stated in an interview with ILNA, the Iranian Labor News Agency, that all reformists' planning focuses on their own capacities. He added that if reformists utilize their capacities, even if the Guardian Council disqualifies all their main figures in the elections, victory will still belong to the reformists. Khatami emphasized that the entire strategy of the reformists is summarized in unity, reminding that through their unity and without internal competition or fragmentation, they can achieve minimal results and demands. The former Deputy Speaker of the Sixth Parliament noted that while there are differences of opinion among reformists, they have come to the conclusion to sit around a table and discuss to achieve unity and cohesion. As reformists prepare for the Islamic Consultative Assembly elections, the possibility of party-factional rivalries in Iran may still be accompanied by stigmatization and accusations against individuals, an issue that President Hassan Rouhani also warned about in a cabinet meeting on November 4. According to ILNA, Khatami described the political atmosphere of the country as 'more open and better' following the establishment of the eleventh government but added that some political currents still want to confront the existing political atmosphere and prevent this path from progressing as it deserves in the Islamic Republic. He also referred to the reformists' experience in the 2013 elections, stating that based on these experiences, reformists resort to tactics that can change the election results in their favor even in the most closed environment. The tenth parliamentary elections will be held in two rounds in March and May 2016, with the first round coinciding with the elections for the fifth Assembly of Experts.