Reformists fail to pick Ahmadinejad challenger; Karroubi: His Holocaust comments are irrelevant.
By THE MEDIA LINE STAFF, JPOST.COM STAFFMohammad khatami 224 88 ap(photo credit: AP)
As the Iranian presidential elections approach, the reformist opposition to incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is failing to rally behind an agreed candidate.
Two of the leading candidates from the reformist camp are former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and former head of the National Security Council Hasan Rouhani. The opposition parties are still trying to persuade former president Muhammad Khatami to run for office. Another possible candidate is former vice-president Muhammad Ali Najafi.
All four have previously expressed vehement opposition to Ahmadinejad's policies. Nevertheless, the lack of one agreed person to run for office will cause a division in votes coming from followers of the reformists.
Ahmadinejad's comments on the Holocaust are "irrelevant," Karroubi was quoted by German news agency Deutsche Presse Agentur on Sunday.
71-year-old Karroubi heads an opposition party called Etemad Melli (National Trust). In a press conference kicking off his campaign, Karroubi pointed to Ahmadinejad's economic and foreign policies as the main problems of the current administration that should be tackled.
On Ahmadinejad's preoccupation with the Holocaust and his reiterations that Israel be "wiped off the map," Karroubi said "We have so far paid a heavy price for the remarks by the president and gained absolutely nothing in return."
"I do not remember that anybody in Iran has ever [since the 1979 Islamic revolution] referred to the Holocaust except [Ahmadinejad]," he said.
"What we should care about is Palestine and Palestinians and how to help them, and not exposing the Holocaust and arguing about the number [of the Jewish victims in the Second World War] and whether it was registered as too much or too little," Karroubi said.
On Iran's controversial nuclear program, Karroubi said that the Islamic Republic should insist on its internationally acknowledged right to pursue a civil nuclear program, but at the same time also pay attention to Western concerns and guarantee the peaceful nature of the nuclear projects.
Despite Ahmadinejad's controversial opinions regarding the nuclear program, and his economic policies which brought about 30 percent inflation, he is still regarded the leading candidate to win the June 12, 2009 elections.
"You may consider yourself in power for five more years," Iran's Spiritual Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamanai told Ahmadinejad during the Beijing Olympic Games.
Nevertheless, the second term in office is not guaranteed to Ahmadinejad, who is also facing rivals from his own conservative camp.
One such rival is the popular governor of Teheran, Muhammad Baqir Qalibaf, who also served in the past as Teheran's police chief.
Another leading potential candidate from the conservative camp was Ali Larijani, the former chief nuclear negotiator, who was elected as parliament speaker last May. Larijani, however, announced on Saturday he had no intention of running for presidency.
Larijani served as chief nuclear negotiator until late 2005, when he resigned over differences of opinion with Ahmadinejad's non-compromising hard line view regarding the nuclear program.
