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Omid Memarian
o.memarian@roozonline.com

Seyyed Mohammad Ali Abtahi, the chief of staff to former president Khatami, speaks to Rooz ‎about the decision to eliminate reformist candidates ahead of the upcoming March 14 Majlis ‎elections: "My belief is that the government never intended to let us participate in the Majlis ‎elections and it announced this last week." ‎

I asked him why the administration chose to disqualify candidates through the Ministry of ‎Interior's Executive (Elections) Committees, rather than to wait for the Guardian Council to vet ‎the candidates and bear the cost. His response was, "The issue is not about bearing the costs. ‎The issue is the existence of radicals in the administration. Military commanders and those ‎affiliated with the radical, hardliner movement now serve as our governors and supervisors. The ‎administration is not afraid to bear the cost of disqualifying candidates. There was a time when ‎the government shied away from doing things like that, but the current administration actually ‎prefers to take responsibility for disqualifying reformist candidates." ‎

When I asked Abtahi if, given the country's sensitive international standing, the administration's ‎move to disqualify scores of candidates and alienate large segments of the population is rational, ‎he responded: "These sorts of considerations [that the public must not be alienated] used to be ‎taken into account during Mr. Khatami's time. Now, these issues are irrelevant and not ‎discussed." I asked him what had changed. "Officials in the current administration believe that ‎the regime is secure and anyone who works in the regime must work to consolidate its power; ‎otherwise, he is not needed," he said.‎

Commenting on the disqualification of scores of prominent reformist candidates, Abtahi said, ‎‎“By laying off managers from all levels in the government during the past 2 years, it seemed like ‎the administration was attempting to institute a system in which no one would be left to criticize ‎it. It was natural for them to look at elections through the same mindset. Perhaps the massive ‎disqualifications were surprising to segments of the conservative faction, but at the same time, ‎the general framework of disqualifications was a framework that was talked about openly and ‎repeatedly by officials in the administration ever since the new group took office." ‎

Abtahi noted the composition and background of officials employed in the administration: "The ‎executive branch is currently synonymous with the most hardline elements in the regime. This ‎includes governorships, country and local governments. In reality, the most radical people have ‎been in charge of the executive administration in the past two or three years. They have even ‎more zeal to disqualify parliamentary candidates than the Guardian Council." ‎

When I asked Abtahi about the reformists' future plans, he said, "I believe that the reformist ‎movement must actively participate in the election process even if we are forced to pick ‎unknown candidates." Khatami's former chief of staff concluded, "We will try to get the highest ‎possible number of votes given our number of candidates." ‎