Reform movement in Iran unstoppable, says Khatami

Dec 4, 2006, 19:11 GMT

Tehran - Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said Monday that the reform movement in Iran was unstoppable.

Khatami, regarded as the movement's leader, tried during his eight-year presidential term (1997-2005) to implement an Islamic democracy in Iran, expand dialogue among different religions and cultures and improving ties with the West.

'The reforms neither started in 1997 (start of his presidential term) nor ended (in 2005) but have had a constantly expanding role in Iranian society,' he told a ceremony held by the youth reformist wing in Tehran ahead of the December 15 municipality elections.

'The cry for freedom and democracy in Iran should be heard even by those who have hearing problems,' the moderate cleric said.

Khatami, an opponent of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's policies, welcomed the coalition of reformists with the moderate wing - headed by ex-President Former President Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani - and other reformist factions.

Observers say that one of the main reasons for the reformists' failure in last year's presidential elections was the diversity of reformist and moderate candidates.

The had led to a diversity of votes and eventually to Ahmadinejad's landslide election victory and the reformers' disappearance from the political scene.

Although neither the election results for the Experts Assembly - an 86-man clergy group in charge for supervising the performance of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei - nor the municipality elections have a direct impact on the country's political developments, the polls still constitute a key indicator of the level of public support for Ahmadinejad.