Iranian president tells German newspaper that "8 years is enough," he will quit when 2nd term ends and return to academia.
By JPOST.COM STAFFIranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad 370 (R)(photo credit: REUTERS/Stringer)
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad plans to retire from politics when his second term ends next year, AFP quoted him as saying on Saturday in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, scheduled to be published on Sunday.“Eight years is enough,” Ahmadinejad, 55, told the German paper.Iran’s constitution prohibits a president from serving more than two consecutive terms, but Ahmadinejad also ruled out the possibility that he would let someone serve one term and then return to office four years later, as Russian President Vladimir Putin recently did.Ahmadinejad said that he would likely return to academia. “Maybe I’ll involve myself in politics at the university, but I will not form a political party or group,” he said.Relations between Ahmadinejad and parliament have become increasingly strained in recent years, particularly over budget matters. The legislature, which has the power to impeach the president, accused him of economic mismanagement and making illegal appointments.In March, he became the first president in the Islamic Republic’s history to be summoned to the assembly for questioning.Ahmadinejad served as Tehran’s mayor before being elected president in 2005. He was reelected in 2009 in an election that was widely thought to be fraudulent. The allegedly rigged election was followed by eight months of street protests that the Iranian government violently quelled.Ahmadinejad was an engineer and a former Revolutionary Guard officer before being elected Teheran’s mayor in 2003. Reuters contributed to this report.
