Following long discussions and with just less than 50 days to the 10th presidential elections to be held on June 12, members of Central Council of the Front of Followers of Imam and Leader Path (Jebhe Peyrovan Khat-e Emam va Rahbari or JPKER) finally chose their favorite candidate and decided that their chairman Habibollah Asgaroladi will announce it in a press conference. Their choice is the in-office president Mr. Mahomoud Ahmadinejad.
Four years ago, however, and during the last elections, JPKER was very upset with Ahmadinejad because he was the only one among its five favorite candidates, namely, Mohammd Bagher Qalibaf (Mayor of Tehran), Ali Larijani (Parliament Speaker), Mahmoud Amadinejad (thn Mayor of Tehran), Ahamd Tavakkoli (principalist Parliamenterian) and Mohsen Rezaei (former Commander of Revolutionary Guards) who refused to accept the election charter of the JPKER.
Prior to that, Ali Akbar Velayati (ex-foreign minister) had withdrawn in favor of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani (Former President). Also Tavakkoli and Rezaei had pulled back after considering the situation. However, Ahmadinejad's behavior led JPKER to introduce Larijani as its favorite candidate. Following the support of Ahmadinejad by the front's provincial secretaries including in Ilam and Khorasan Razavi, the front which consists of 14 principalist groups and parties held a session on Friday and eventually agreed on him.
Some believe that the early move by the front to support Ahmadinejad has been a bid to lay conditions on him because he has not paid attention to political groups and does not use them in running the country. After a meeting between the president and principalist members of the Parliament in which Ahmadinejad was criticized for his treatment of Parliament, principalist MP Shahaboddin Sadr implied in talks with reporters that the president should extend the circle of his forces saying that he has promised to change some of his cabinet members.
With the selection of Ahmadinejad as JPKER favorite candidate, it was also decided that none of the members of the front would spread the news before its announcement by the chairman. Therefore, general secretaries and party leaders were not available for comments and only the Secretary General of Workers Islamic Society, Alireza Saber Kouchaksaraei talked to the local news agency Fars about the session.
Two Principalist Groups Remain Silent
With the JPKER announcement, the principalists camp almost finalized its case for the upcoming election and now majority of them will support Ahmadinejad. In other camp of principalists which includes the Sacrifiers Society (Jamiat Isargaran), the Society of Followers of Islamic Revolution (Jamiat Rahpouyan Enqelab Eslami) and supporters of Tavakkoli who set up his election headquarters in the last elections, only his supporters have delayed their announcement while the other groups have officially supported Ahmadinejad and emphasized on continuation of his presidency.
Tavakkoli has held sessions with heads of his former provincial election headquarters in Tehran discussing with them the upcoming elections and the existing candidates. Referring to positive aspects of Ahmadinejad's performance, he has mentioned some deviations and breaches of law in his government arguing "Considering all aspects, we don't have a candidate so far".
Due to internal divisions between the pro-government parliamentarians and those who are criticizing it, the principalist majority of Majlis (Parliament) has yet to support Ahmadinejad's candidacy. They are widely expected to introduce him as their favorite candidate though.
In the meantime, Fars News Agency quoted Pelak News website saying a meeting was held by the so-called Prominent Members of the Khordad 2 Council (Shora Bozorgan Jebheh Dovvom Khordad) which suggested return of former president Mohammd Khatami to the election scene and Mir Hossein Mousavi's withdrawal. It also quoted Mostafa Tajzadeh as saying that according to opinion polls, Mousavi's soaring public support has stopped and even declined.
However, Tajzadeh, who is reformist, has denied such a meeting took place and said, "Fortunately, the polls show that support of the public, academicians and the youth to Mr. Mousavi is increasing". I think, he said, the last Wednesday speech by MP Hossein Fadaei in the parliament was a concerted move by the principalists demonstrating their fear over Mousavi's victory. "They too have the correct results of the opinion polls and see that Mousavi will be our country's next president," Tajzadeh added. "The principalists have growing differences and a substantial number of them will vote for Mr. Mousavi to discontinue Mr. Ahmadinejad's presidency as they had said they would Mr. Khatami before his withdrawal." Expressing his surprise over the news against Mousavi, Tajzadeh said that some principalists are repeating the mistakes they did in 1997 and this will give rise to Mr. Mousavi's victory.
Also Mousavi's head of the Tehran election headquarters, Najafqoli Habibi has denied such a meeting. "Following Mr. Khatami's withdrawal, all his supporters are now supporting Mr. Mousavi. There was undoubtedly no such meeting," he told Khabar.
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