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Rafsanjani and Khatami consider alliance | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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The late Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandsons, Ali Khomeini, right, and Yasser Khomeini, second right, greet former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, as parliament speaker Ali Larijani, second left, sits with them during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini at his shrine just outside Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)


The late Ayatollah Khomeini's grandsons, Ali Khomeini, right, and Yasser Khomeini, second right, greet former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, as parliament speaker Ali Larijani, second left, sits with them during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini at his shrine just outside Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 4, 2013 (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)

The late Ayatollah Khomeini’s grandsons, Ali Khomeini, right, and Yasser Khomeini, second right, greet former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, left, as parliament speaker Ali Larijani, second left, sits with them during a ceremony commemorating the anniversary of the death of the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Khomeini at his shrine just outside Tehran, Iran, on Tuesday, June 4, 2013. (AP Photo/Office of the Supreme Leader)

London, Asharq Al-Awsat—Speculation is growing in Iran that former presidents Hashemi Rafsanjani and Khatami will form an alliance to back a single candidate in the upcoming presidential election.

Both men are expected to endorse Hassan Rouhani, a member of the Expediency Council who served as Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator under the reformist Khatami and who is widely perceived as a relative moderate.

In addition, presidential candidate Mohamamd Reza Aref, who also served under Khatami as the first vice president, announced yesterday in the northeastern city of Qazvin that he might re-consider his candidacy if both Rafsanjani and Khatami wish him to do so.

Aref is the only vetted candidate considered to be a representative of Iran’s fractured reformist movement.

Both Aref and Rouhani had previously said that if Hashemi Rafsanjani were to run, they would withdraw. It is understood that Hashemi Rafsanjani urged both candidates to stay in the race and not withdraw in his favor, given that he was not sure how Iran’s Guardian Council, which vets candidates for national office, would react.

The council rejected the candidacy of Hashemi Rafsanjani, alongside that of hundreds of others, despite the fact that he served two terms as president between 1989 and 1997.

Rouhani’s campaign is steadily gaining strength, and his provincial campaign trips have so far been successful. Rouhani was recently welcomed to Khuzestan province by Ayatollah Jazayeri, the supreme leader’s provincial representative and a Friday prayer imam in Ahvaz.

According to the Fara-Ru website, Rouhani complained to Jazayeri about being unable to find a venue to deliver his speech, prompting Jazayeri to assist him by providing a meeting hall belonging to the department of education.

Rouhani has a proven track record in government. He rose to command the air defense force during the Iran–Iraq War, and has been a confidante of both Hashemi Rafsanjani and Ayatollah Khamenei. He is respected by many war veterans and conservative clerics.

Sadeq Ziba Kalam, a prominent political commentator whose comments about the election have been widely published in Iranian media over the last three months, has written to Rafsanjani and Khatami to urge them to join forces and declare their support for a single candidate representing the reformist and moderate camp.

In his letter, he reminded them of the chaos and disunity that plagued the reformist camp during the 2005 election, which saw the controversial Mahmoud Ahmadinejad become president.

Ten days before the election, the frontrunners for each faction have yet to emerge. If a moderate–reformist alliance of Rouhani and Aref is established, this is likely to lead to the formation of an opposing conservative alliance between Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati. The other prominent conservative candidate, Saeed Jalili, is seen as unlikely to join the other two, given that he represents the most radical wing of the conservative “principalist” movement.

In another development, Iran’s outgoing president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, was not given a chance to speak during the two-day anniversary of the death of Ayatollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ahmadinejad has made a speech at the event in previous years, as has every other president since Khomeini’s death in 1989. The break with tradition has been interpreted as an indication of the extent of the decline of his influence.

Speaking at the event, Iran’s supreme leader criticized candidates who have spoken out in favor of improving relations with the West, but said that he would remain neutral and would be unbiased towards the candidates.

Absent any intervention by Khamenei, it seems that the election remains to be decided by a either a complex coalition agreement struck between power brokers or a late surge in favor of one of the candidates.