In surprise move, Iran’s Ahmadinejad seeks presidency
Controversial former leader goes against advice not to run
TEHRAN, Iran — Defying Iran’s supreme leader, the confrontational former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad filed papers Wednesday to contest next month’s elections, a longshot bid to regain his post that stunned even veteran political observers.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had advised Ahmadinejad last September not to run again and the ex-president said he agreed, even calling a news conference last week to announce he was backing his former vice president, Hamid Baghaei, for the presidency.
Asked why he changed his mind, Ahmadinejad said, “The supreme leader advised me; he didn’t order me,” according to the ISNA news agency.
It was a typically brash move for a wily populist and archconservative who confounded Western countries during his eight years as president, when he was prone to aggressive and sometimes demonstrably false statements, such as denying the Holocaust and stating there were no gay people in Iran.
His candidacy must be approved by the conservative Guardian Council, which oversees Iran’s elections and is close to Khamenei. Even many hard-liners believe the council will disqualify Ahmadinejad and Baghaei, who was briefly jailed on corruption charges. The council is expected to finalize the list of candidates in about two weeks.
In one sign of official discontent with his move, several pro-Ahmadinejad websites were blocked in Iran beginning Wednesday morning.
Ahmadinejad perhaps sees an opening in the May 19 elections because Iran’s conservatives have not rallied around a credible challenger to his successor, President Hassan Rouhani, a relative moderate who has championed better ties with the West. Ahmadinejad was barred from seeking a third consecutive four-year term, but is now eligible again.
Conservatives believe Rouhani is vulnerable because the economy remains weak despite the deal he made to curb Iran’s nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of most international sanctions.
While in office from 2005 to 2013, Ahmadinejad instituted a program of cash transfers that was popular with
But the policy also fueled hyperinflation that experts say left Iran’s economy weaker in the long run.
Ahmadinejad’s popularity faded further as his combative persona and support for the nuclear program alienated the West and led to the harshest sanctions ever imposed on a country.
He also clashed with the supreme leader over top political appointments, and his disputed 2009 re-election prompted the largest protests in Iran in a generation. working-class Iranians.