Posted on 10/06/2007 6:55:53 AM PDT by nuconvert
Khatami to Lead Iranian Opposition in Elections, Says Brother
October 06, 2007
Deutsche Presse-Agentur
monstersandcritics.com
Tehran -- Former Iranian president Mohammad Khatami will lead the opposition coalition in next the country's March parliamentary elections, the cleric's brother told the Fars news agency on Saturday.
'As far as I know, he will not directly nominate himself but lead the (opposition) coalition,' Mohammad-Reza Khatami of the reformist Islamic Participation Front said.
After the two defeats of the 2004 parliamentary and 2005 presidential elections, the reformist and moderate factions formed a coalition and hope to regain power in 2008.
The Iranian parliament is currently dominated by the Abadgaran (Reconstruction) party to which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is affiliated.
The new coalition is unofficially led by former presidents Khatami and Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani and gained an initial victory in last December's Experts Assembly, imposing Ahmadinejad a first setback since his presidency in 2005.
The parliamentary elections, scheduled for March 14, 2008, will this time also have international impacts due to the global crisis over Iran's controversial nuclear programmes.
A victory by the reformist would not only affect Iran's domestic and foreign policies but eventually also prepare ground to replace Ahmadinejad in the 2009 presidential elections.
The reformist-moderate coalition is however not as unified Khatami and Rafsanjani would like and are rather divided between wings loyal to the Islamic system and those not fully acknowledging the political status quo and heading towards more secularism.
Although all political factions have an unanimous stance on Iran's right to pursue nuclear technology, the differences between the ultraconservatives and moderate-reformists are rather focused on internal and especially economic issues.
According to economic experts Ahmadinejad has failed to implement his economic reforms in favour of low income social classes and is held responsible for the high inflation and astronomic real estate prices.
Another issue is the voting age after Ahmadinejad voiced preference to revise last January's approval on changing the minimum voting age from 15 to 18 and return it again to 15.
There are also debates whether the vote counting should for the first time be computerized or again be made manually
What this whole "reformist-moderate coalition" is though, is another IRI diversion/stall tactic and carrot for the Iranian people and the outside world. First, it makes no difference who gets 'elected', the Supreme Leader makes all the final decisions, but the idea of moderates and reformists sure sounds more hopeful, doesn't it? And secondly, it gives all the countries an excuse to wait even longer before taking action against Iran - more time, just what the regime wants.
So, I hope anyone with 1/2 a brain (and I include the leftists and liberal democrats in this catagory) can see thru this ruse and just ignore it. Though in their cases, I doubt that will happen. So I hope the President and this Administration are wise enough to do so, and follow the instructions: " Nothing to see here, move along."
pong
There won’t be elections in Iran next March, at least THEY won’t be a part of it.
” So, I hope anyone with 1/2 a brain (and I include the leftists and liberal democrats in this catagory) can see thru this ruse and just ignore it. “
Unfortunately, there are many of our ‘Conservative’ compatriots (most notably Charles Krauthammer and Condi&the State Department) that have swallowed whole the ‘moderates in Iran’ myth, hoping to be rescued from having to face and support the inevitable difficult and risky confrontation....
“(most notably Charles Krauthammer and Condi&the State Department) that have swallowed whole the ‘moderates in Iran’ myth, “
There’s a big difference between moderates in the population and moderates in the gov’t. I don’t believe Krauthammer and Condi are on the same page in this regard.
The majority of Iranian people want to see the end of this regime. I don’t think anyone disputes that. (except for Leftists and IRI sycophants)
Where the State Dept makes its mistake and where I believe Krauthammer parts ways with them, is whether there really is any hope of a truly moderate regime that could ever be an ally of ours. There is not.
The regime must be dismantled/overthrown. Period. I think Krauthammer understands that. (but maybe I’m wrong)
” The regime must be dismantled/overthrown. Period. I think Krauthammer understands that. (but maybe I’m wrong) “
Exactly.. I’ll go one step farther and say that the regime needs to be utterly defeated, humiliated, and discredited....
And that, IMO, just ain’t gonna happen from within — there just aren’t many examples in history of repressive police states being overthrown by ‘moderate’, pro-democracy movements... (History is, however, replete with dictatorships being overthrown and supplanted by even worse dictators...)
I’ve seen some Krauthammer articles that seem to hold out the hope that the regime can be changed by ‘peaceful’ political means...
“And that, IMO, just ain’t gonna happen from within”
It has to be from within >>> with outside help. They can’t do it themselves. From all I’ve heard and read from Krauthammer, he understands that we need to be helping to make that happen. I think he realizes that it’s going to take more than “‘peaceful’ political means”.
The first thing we need to do, along with some of our allies, is to announce that we’re dedicated to ending this murderous regime, and freeing the Iranian people from the tyrannical prison and oppression they’ve endured for almost 30 yrs.
“The first thing we need to do, along with some of our allies, is to announce that we’re dedicated to ending this murderous regime, and freeing the Iranian people from the tyrannical prison and oppression they’ve endured for almost 30 yrs.”
About Khatami: it won’t happen, LOL..
About above quote: is a good idea, but won’t happen in practice and reality. The reasons are many, more Iranian related than outside. But, hope you’re right.
Oh I believe it!
But then I believe in the Easter bunny also.
Voting age at 15??? Boy, if they could do that here the Dems would win every election. That’s if the could get them away from their video games long enough to vote.
This enlightened society probably feels "old enough to execute = old enough to vote."
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