Baku, Azerbaijan, Apr. 12
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Reacting to a surprise move by former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to contest in the forthcoming presidential elections, a large number of Iranian conservatives have harshly criticized the decision.
Despite Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s earlier remarks implicitly urging Ahmadinejad to refrain from taking part in the upcoming elections, the controversial politician on April 12 appeared in the building of the country’s Interior Ministry to submit his name as a hopeful for the May 19 presidential elections.
“This is suicidal,” Hossein Kanani Moqadam, an Iranian conservative figure, told ILNA commenting on the issue.
He added that Ahmadinejad’s move was against the supreme leader’s will.
Ali Naderi, the editor-in-chief of pro-conservative Raja news website, termed Ahmadinejad’s decision as a “politically suicidal” and accused him of realizing the wishes of the intelligence service of the UK.
“Today, we witnessed one of the most complicated games of the UK intelligence service in the elections,” Naderi tweeted.
Elyas Naderan, a former pro-conservative MP, has also described the move as “the end of Ahmadinejad”.
In the meantime, Mehdi Kouchakzadeh, a former conservative MP, has published a letter harshly criticizing the ex-ally’s decision.
Meanwhile, the Dolat-e Bahar (the Government of Spring) news website, which is affiliated with the former president, has apparently been out of access.
Conservatives threw their tremendous support behind Ahmadinejad during the 2009 controversial elections and the post-election unrests.
To contest in the May elections, Ahmadinejad, alongside with dozens of other presidential hopefuls, needs to be vetted by Guardian Council, the country's constitutional watchdog, before the beginning of the race.