Mir-Hossein Mousavi presidential campaign, 2009
Encyclopedia
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Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh
Mir-Hossein Mousavi
Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh is an Iranian reformist politician, artist and architect who served as the seventy-ninth and last Prime Minister of Iran from 1981 to 1989. He was a Reformist candidate for the 2009 presidential election and eventually the leader of the opposition in the post-election...
(In Persian
Persian language
Persian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
: میرحسین موسوی خامنه) served as the last Prime Minister of Iran
Prime Minister of Iran
Prime Minister of Iran was a political post in Iran that had existed during several different periods of time starting with the Qajar era until its most recent revival from 1979 to 1989 following the Iranian Revolution.-Prime Ministers of Qajar era:In the Qajar era, prime ministers were known by...
, from 1981 to 1989, before the position of Prime Minister was abolished in the 1989's review of the Iranian constitution. After 20 years of absence from the political scene of Iran, on March 9, 2009 he announced his candidacy in the 2009 Iranian Presidential election
Iranian presidential election, 2009
Iran's tenth presidential election was held on 12 June 2009, with incumbent Mahmoud Ahmadinejad running against three challengers. The next morning the Islamic Republic News Agency, Iran's official news agency, announced that with two-thirds of the votes counted, Ahmadinejad had won the election...
.
Past elections
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
, who won a landslide victory. Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard
Zahra Rahnavard
Zahra Rahnavard is an Iranian artist and politician.-Early life:Rahnavard was born in Borujerd, Iran. Her father Haj-Fathali was a Fundamentalist Sh'ia and anti-Communist. After hearing of a gathering of Sh'ia clerics in Iran, Haj-Fathali emigrated to Khomein, Markazi Province where Zahra was born...
, explained in an interview that the reason for her husband not running in the 1997 election had been receiving discouraging messages from "the higher officials", a hint possibly at the Supreme Leader
Supreme Leader of Iran
The Supreme Leader of Iran is the highest ranking political and religious authority in the Islamic Republic of Iran. The post was established by the constitution in accordance with the concept of Guardianship of the Islamic Jurists...
Ali Khamenei
Ali Khamenei
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Hoseyni Khāmene’i is the Supreme Leader of Iran and the figurative head of the Muslim conservative establishment in Iran and Twelver Shi'a marja...
and/or the then President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani
Ayatollah Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is an influential Iranian politician and writer, who was the fourth President of Iran. He was a member of the Assembly of Experts until his resignation in 2011...
.
Mousavi was considered as one of the possible candidates of the reformist alliance to run in the Iranian Presidential election, 2005
Iranian presidential election, 2005
Iran's ninth presidential election took place in two rounds, the first on June 17, 2005, the run-off on June 24. Mohammad Khatami, the previous President of Iran, stepped down on August 2, 2005, after serving his maximum two consecutive four-year terms according to the Islamic Republic's constitution...
. However he officially turned down the invitation of a number of parties in the reformist alliance on October 12, 2004, after a meeting with President Mohammad Khatami
Mohammad Khatami
Sayyid Mohammad Khātamī is an Iranian scholar, philosopher, Shiite theologian and Reformist politician. He served as the fifth President of Iran from August 2, 1997 to August 3, 2005. He also served as Iran's Minister of Culture in both the 1980s and 1990s...
and the two other high-ranking members of the Association of Combatant Clerics, Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi
Mehdi Karroubi is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was Chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.He is a founding...
and Mohammad Mousavi-Khoiniha.
Platform
Mousavi ran as an independent Principled Reformist candidate. Although he is one of the original founders of the Iranian reformist camp, he shares many principles of the conservatives. Many reformist parties, among them reformist Islamic Iranian Participation Front, whose main candidate was Khatami, have supported his candidacy after the latter withdrew from the race. Many supporters of the reformist movement have however objected to Mousavi's candidacy on the grounds that he is not committed to the principles of the reformist parties. Although Mousavi stated that he was not running as a reformist, he indicated that he welcomed the support of different parties, both reformist and conservative. He started his campaign from the center of the Iranian politics, however over time he shifted more towards the reformist camp by declaring his support for reforms. Although some active members of the conservative camp, such as Emad AfrooghEmad Afroogh
Emad Afroogh is an Iranian politician and sociologist.He studied at Shiraz University and Tarbiat Modares University. He is currently a member of Iranian parliament.-Positions:...
, as well as the conservative newspaper Jomhouri Eslami, supported Mousavi's candidacy, he did not receive the official backing of any major conservative party. His candidacy made it harder for the conservatives to support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and large conservative parties, such as the Combatant Clergy Association, did not back the current President for the second term of office.
The BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
reported that Mousavi "called for greater personal freedoms in Iran and criticised the ban on private television channels", but "refused to back down from the country's disputed nuclear programme, saying it is "for peaceful purposes".
On May 30, Mousavi pledged that if elected he would amend "discriminatory and unjust regulations" against women, and take other measures in favour of women's rights and equality.
Iran blocks Facebook
On May 23, 2009, the Iranian government blocked access to FacebookFacebook
Facebook is a social networking service and website launched in February 2004, operated and privately owned by Facebook, Inc. , Facebook has more than 800 million active users. Users must register before using the site, after which they may create a personal profile, add other users as...
across the country but lifted the blockage after protests from the public. Gulfnews.com reported that the former move had been a response to the use of Facebook by the candidates running against the incumbent Mr Ahmadinejad; Mousavi has great support by those using social networking sites such as Facebook. PC World reported that Mousavi's Facebook page had more than 6,600 supporters at the time of the writing of the article.
Endorsements
List of individuals and political parties endorsing Mir-Hossein Mousavi |
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External links
- Kalemeh News
- Ghalam News
- Mir Hussein Mousavi
- Setad e Ma - ستاد ما
- Setad e Man
- Vote for Change - Vote for Mir Hossein Mousavi, a promotional video by a number of Iranian motion-picture celebrities, including Dariush Mehrjoui, Kiumars PourahmadKiomars PourahmadKiumars Pourahmad is an Iranian film director, screenwriter, film editor and film producer. He was born in 1949 in Nadjaf Abad, Iran.-Career:...
, Manijeh HekmatManijeh HekmatManijeh Hekmat is an Iranian film director. Born in 1962 in Arāk, Iran, she has worked since 1980 as an assistant director and production designer in over 25 films. She directed her first feature film Women's Prison in 2002. This film has been shown at over 80 international film festivals and has...
, Masoud KimiaiMasoud KimiaiMasoud Kimiai is an Iranian director, screenwriter and producer. He was born in 1941 in Tehran, Iran.- Biography :Kimiai started his career as an assistant director and made his debut, Come Stranger, in 1968. With his second film, Kaiser , he and Dariush Mehrjui with The film Cow, caused a...
and Mohsen MakhmalbafMohsen MakhmalbafMohsen Makhmalbaf is an Iranian film director, writer, editor, and producer. During 2007 he was the president of Asian Film Academy.Makhmalbaf's films have been widely presented in international film festivals in the past ten years. The multi-award-winning director, belongs to the new wave...
: YouTube (9 min 54 sec). - "The changing face of Iranian politics", BBC video, June 7, 2009 (on the prospect of Mousavi's election)
- Mousavi's Program booklet, first version