Monday, January 12, 2009

Khatami or MirHussein Mousavi

Former President Khatami told reporters On Monday that either he or Mr. MirHussein Mousavi, Iran's premier during Iran-Iraq war, will run for presidency against President Ahmadinejad. This is the first public announcement Mr. Khatami has made about his plans for coming elections. He also said that the current administration diversion from development plans and accepted 2020 vision has cost country dearly. He criticized the government by adding “instead of going forward for 4 years we went backward for 4 years."

Although Mr. Khatami has remained actively involved in Iran's politics since his second term ended as the president, Mr. MirHussein Mousavi has been considered retired. He led the government during the Iran-Iraq war serving as the prime minister, while Ayatollah Khamenie was the President of IRI. His government implemented centralist economic policies, limiting private sector to a few industries and expanding public sector to include several enterprises in different industries. His emphasis on a leftist approach to the economy caused several disagreements with conservative factions of Majlis. Trained as an architect he has a quiet professional life for the last 20 years, designing houses and holding art exhibition. Although his name always comes up when a presidential election is approaching.
* Photo is taken from BBC Persian website

No comments: