Two former Iranian presidents backing reformist vote in Friday's election

22-02-2016
Rudaw
Tags: Iranian polls Mohammed Khatami Hashemi Rafsanjani reformists Iranian parliament
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Former Iranian presidents Mohammed Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani are calling on voters in Iran to back the more reform-minded candidates in the upcoming general election, in which Iranians will elect members to parliament and the Assembly of Experts, for the first simultaneously.

The presidents say, according to AFP, that a large turnout of voters in favor of the more moderate politicians is what is needed to ensure that the hardliners are not elected.  

"After the successful first step in 2013, this coalition should take the second step for the Majlis (parliament)," said Khatami in a four-minute YouTube video.

Khatami is banned from making appearances or even being mentioned in Iranian media outlets.

Both of the former presidents support the incumbent Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, whose more pragmatic approach with the outside world made the recent Iranian nuclear deal with the P5+1 powers possible.

That in turn saw the lifting of economic sanctions which had been leveled against Iran because of its nuclear program for 13 years.

The so-called Alliance of Reformists and Government Supporters is a coalition of politicians who support the reformists when it comes to a more conciliatory approach with the outside world, something which they believe is in Tehran's interests.

They want such members in parliament and on the Assembly of Experts, a body of clerics who will decide on who will succeed the most powerful man in Iran, the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.Rafsanjani also dubbed Friday's elections as "a valuable opportunity to prevent institutionalization of political radicalism and religious extremism in society."

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