‎

Hossein Mohammadi

We have spoken with Ali Mazroui, member of the reformist Mosharekat Party's central ‎committee and president of the Association of Iranian Journalists, about the upcoming Majlis ‎‎[Parliamentary] elections and the disqualification of reformist candidates. Below is an excerpt of ‎this interview. ‎

Rooz (R): Mr. Mazroui, the spokesperson for the Guardian Council has announced that all ‎districts will have competitive races. Is this true for reformists? ‎

Ali Mazroui (AM): What the gentleman means by "competition" is not clear to me. If by ‎competition they mean the quantity of candidates, then they can make such a claim. But if by ‎competition they mean a real competition between diverse groups and ideologies, then most of ‎the races will not be competitive. It is evident to us that the upcoming parliamentary elections ‎will not be competitive, in the true sense of the word. ‎

‎(R): How many candidates does the reformist coalition currently have across the country?‎

‎(AM): According to what we have heard so far, which is not official by the way, at most 60 ‎races are relatively competitive. Even though our most prominent candidates have been ‎disqualified, there are some who are "somewhat" reformists. ‎

‎(R): What about the Mosharekat Party? Do you have any exclusive candidates? ‎

‎(AM): Almost nowhere in the nation do we have exclusive candidates. In other words, all of ‎Mosharekat Party's candidates were disqualified, across the country. We may have one or two ‎candidates in Tehran. ‎

‎(R): What is your reaction to the disqualification of your candidates? ‎

‎(AM): Our slates are not finalized yet, but in any case, we had accepted from the beginning to ‎act as a coalition, and we will stay in the coalition until the end. ‎

‎(R): Reformists have lost in every election since the seventh Majlis elections. Do you have any ‎special plans to reverse this trend?‎

‎(AM): Your questions are very difficult, because when you say "reformists," I don't know who ‎you are referring to. There are many groups within the reformist camp that believe in the ‎movement's general guidelines. Furthermore, the past few elections have not been competitive, ‎and reformists were not given a chance to participate in competitive elections. ‎

‎(R): What are your plans for the future? ‎

‎(AM): How did people spread awareness in the past? We will speak to our supporters, use on-‎line resources, the world has not come to an end!‎

‎(R): Is this enough to raise society's awareness?‎

‎(AM): If someone has an alternate plan they can share it with us. ‎

‎(R): Don't you think you have squandered many opportunities? ‎

‎(AM): In any case, if the road was paved and we could progress quickly we wouldn't have been ‎here today. We are involved in a political struggle and the future is not predictable. As ‎reformists, we have reached the conclusion that, to reach democracy, we have to raise society's ‎awareness. ‎

‎(R): Mr. Mazroui! Will you vote in the eight Majlis elections?‎

‎(AM): I haven't decided yet. Ask me on the election day! ‎