Hojjatoleslam Mohammad Zare Foumani of the People’s Reform Party announced that he will nominate for President, adding that “we supported Mr Rouhani in 2013, which was wrong, and we apologize to the people and hope they will accept our apology”. The People’s Reform Party was led by Mehdi Karroubi until 2009, after which Zare Foumani, who did not dispute the election result, became leader.
Mehdi Karroubi, a former candidate who has been under house arrest since opposing the result of the 2009 election, was hospitalised over the weekend. The 83-year-old had broken vertebrae after falling over at home. The home detention without charge for Karroubi and another former candidate, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, remains to sensitive issue for the Iranian government and has emerged already in campaigning.
In a far ranging and combatative interview, Ahmadinejad stated that he was against the house arrest of Mousavi and Karroubi, both of whom have been held since disputing Ahmadinejad’s victory in 2009. Ahmadinejad refused to comment on whether he would run this year.