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By Tehran Bureau
The new party may not stand in February’s parliamentary election, but it’s up and running with its eyes on a broad coalition
The Islamic Iranian National Alliance party, the first reformist party permitted to form since the disputed 2009 presidential election, has its eyes on February’s parliamentary election.
“We are ready to cooperate with moderate and wise conservatives and form a joint front against those who are after sectarian rather than national interests,” Hossein Naghashi, a member of the National Alliance’s central committee, told Tehran Bureau.
Naghashi said the party had not yet picked candidates for February. But he argued the watchdog Guardian Council, which has disqualified thousands of reformist candidates from parliamentary and council elections over the past decade, should act “as a regulatory body” and be unbiased. “In our view any approach that could damage the political and basic freedoms of citizens, including setting restrictions on selecting [the candidates], is against the constitution.”
Since it was authorised by the interior ministry in April – and especially since its first congress in August – the party has faced criticism from principle-ists as a successor to the Islamic Iran Participation Front, which was suspended after the unrest in 2009.
The leading conservative newspaper Kayhan recently argued “the reputation of the [National Alliance] party’s leading members, who were previously active in the dissolved Participation party, is clear. So is their central role in the 2009 sedition,” a term referring to post-election protests. Javan, another conservative newspaper, has asked Iran’s “leadership” to confront the National Alliance party before the “next sedition” occurs.
Naghashi told Tehran Bureau the National Alliance party was distinct. “As our secretary general [Ali Shakouri Rad] noted during our first press conference, National Alliance is not a substitute for any [other] party.” Naghashi argued the party’s “democratic and reformist” approach, based on “moderate Islamic” beliefs, would make it popular among the public.
Those criticising the National Alliance, said Naghashi, were not in favour of independent movements and were trying to block democratic competition: “Hard-line movements are pro-crisis. They gain consolidation through political and social crisis.”
Given the length of time since the 2009 protests, and the broader realignment taking place in Iranian politics with the focus on the nuclear agreement, the reformists’ arguments may find an echo. Ali Motahhari, a principle-ist MP, has told ANA news agency that no-one has the right to label political forces as “seditious” and block them from political activities.
The National Alliance party’s reformist pedigree is clear. Its convention in August was attended by Mostafa Moin, former education minister and 2005 presidential candidate; Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of former president Mohammad Khatami and former deputy parliament speaker; Abdolvahed Mousavi Lari, interior minister under Khatami; Mohammad Reza Aref, former vice president and 2013 presidential candidate. Shahindokht Molaverdi, Rouhani’s vice-president for women and family affairs, was also present.
Among members of the Islamic Iran Participation Front sitting on the central committee of the National Alliance party are Ali Tajernia, Ali Shakouri Rad and Azar Mansouri. All three were arrested during the protests following the 2009 presidential election.
Founded in 1998 by reformist politicians who had been active in Mohammad Khatami’s successful 1997 presidential campaign, the Islamic Iran Participation Front became the largest faction in the Majles, Iran’s parliament, between 2000 and 2004, when many of its deputies were barred from running by the Guardian Council. In 2010, a court barred the party from any activities for its alleged role in street protests after it endorsed the candidacy of former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi.
A former member of the Participation Front told Tehran Bureau the Alliance acted like an “offshoot” and was “committed to the same values, which are reformism and democracy”.
He said the party should not put forward candidates for February’s parliamentary election. “If the Guardian Council disqualifies them, the party will be disappointed. It’s probable that Hassan Rouhani and former presidents Mohammad Khatami and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, will draw up a list of moderate candidates. It’s better for the Alliance party to back these.”
But not participating directly in the parliamentary election would not detract from the party’s importance, he insisted: “From 2009 to 2014 we were in a post-coup situation, but now we have a real legitimate [reformist] party. This is a significant step. It doesn’t mean we have reached democracy, but it’s a sign that the period of severe political repression is over. It shows that regardless of hard-liners’ efforts, the reformists have not vanished and have even forced the leadership, to some extent, to respect the constitution.”
