Profile: Leading moderate/reformist candidates for Iran's upcoming parliamentary elections
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E-mail Xinhua, February 24, 2016
Iranian voters are preparing to go to the polls on Friday to elect the representatives of Majlis (parliament) for the next four years.
Early Thursday morning in Iran will see the oozing hours for the hopefuls to present themselves as the most proficient candidates and their programs as the most competitive ones for the good of the nation and the country.
Among the 6,229 qualified candidates, including 586 women, who will compete for 290 seats in the Majlis, reformists are very much hopeful for a significant comeback after almost a decade of isolation from Iran's political scene.
The followings are the notable figures shared among the lists produced by the reformist groups:
Mohammad Reza Aref:
Aref (born in December 1951) is an Iranian politician and academic. He is also an electrical engineer and a professor at University of Tehran and Sharif University of Technology.
He was also a faculty member of Isfahan University of Technology until 1994. During his political career, Aref has held important positions in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He was first vice president from 2001 to 2005 under the reformist President Mohammad Khatami. He also served as Minister of Technology in Khatami's first cabinet in 1997-2001.
He is currently a member of Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution and Expediency Discernment Council. He was a candidate in the 2013 presidential election but withdrew his candidacy which gave way to the incumbent moderate President Hassan Rouhani a better chance to win.
During 2013 presidential campaign, Aref censured the foreign policy of the former hardline Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration for his Iran's weakened diplomatic ties with other countries. He said that the administration should have had friendly ties with the world and improve the conditions in the country through such relations. He has named himself as a reformist and said that "The main characteristic of reformism is patience and broad-mindedness. The most significant feature of reformism is movement within the framework of the (Iranian) constitution and with due respect for norms and structures." For the upcoming Majlis elections, he is named as the Pervasive Coalition of Reformists' head list. In his recent campaign for the elections, he urged people to be present at the ballot boxes to vote.
Mostafa Kavakebian:
Kavakebian (born in March 1963) is an Iranian reformist politician and former representative of Iran's Semnan city at the parliament. Kavakebian is the leader of Democracy Party, as a reformist party, that he founded in 2000. He was the leader of the Popular Reformist Coalition running on 2004 and 2008 legislative election, and became a member of reformist faction in the parliament. He founded Popular Coalition of Supporters of Mir Hossein Mousavi in the 2009 disputed Iranian presidential election. He is also the editor-in-chief of Mardomsalari (or Democracy) newspaper. He was seeking to keep his seat in the 2012 Majlis elections as the leader of the Democratic Coalition of Reformists, but was not elected. In January 2013, Kavakebian registered for the country's presidential election but his bid was rejected by Iran's Guardian Council, as the highest vetting legislative body of the country. He later supported Mohammad Reza Aref in the election. For the Friday elections, he is included in the Pervasive Coalition of Reformists.
Ali Motahari:
Motahari (born in January 1958) is an Iranian academic, publisher and politician. Motahari is the head of Iran's Sadra Publications and teaches at University of Tehran. His father, Morteza Motahari, was a notable Islamic scholar who is considered to have had important influences on the ideologies of the Islamic Republic. Ali Motahari is currently a member of Iranian parliament. He has been described as a centrist critic of radical conservatives. He is a brother-in-law of current Majles Speaker Ali Larijani, and a harsh critic of former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He criticized Ahmadinejad for his "self-centered" policies saying: "It is unprecedented and inappropriate that a president simply says I do not accept this law and will not execute it." Motahari tried to summon Ahmadinejad to parliament to question and impeachment. He has also criticized the judiciary system of the Islamic establishment for keeping the two opposition leaders, Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, under house arrest since February 2011 without being officially charged. Ali Motahar is supported by the Pervasive Coalition of Reformists for the upcoming parliamentary votes.
Masoud Pezeshkian:
Pezeshkian (born in September 1954) is an Iranian politician and a member of Iraniaian parliament presently. Pezeshkian was Minister of Health between 2001 and 2005 in the cabinet of former president Mohammad Khatami. He was also the chancellor of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences for seven years. He is a heart surgeon and an academic member of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences at the present time. He is elected as one of Iranian parliament members from Tabriz in 2008 election. He had a speech on condemnation of violence against the alleged fraud in Iranian presidential election in June 2009 in Iran parliament. In 2010, he failed in his bid to become deputy speaker of parliament. He is also a member of Iran-Turkey Friendship society. For the upcoming Majlis elections, Pezeshkian's name is also included the Pervasive Coalition of Reformists.
Iran's Guardian Council has approved almost half of the registered for the imminent parliamentary elections. In the nationwide scale, some 21 people will compete for each seat in the parliamentary election. In the capital Tehran, over 1000 candidates will compete for just 30 seats.
The Iranian Majlis can force the dismissal of cabinet ministers by no-confidence votes and can impeach the president for misconduct in office.
The parliament also drafts legislation, ratifies international treaties, and approves the national budget.
The moderates in coalition with the reformists, heartened and motivated under the administration of President Hassan Rouhani, are seeking to change the current conservative-dominated texture of the Majlis on Feb. 26 vote. Enditem
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