Ali Tajernia is a leadership member of the Mosharekat (Iran Participation) party and a ‎former member of the sixth reformist Majlis. In speaking with Rooz Tajernia believes ‎that Khatami’s views on the issues of the country have changed and the parties that ‎support him are now more active.‎

Rooz (R): Mr. Tajernia, let’s begin our talk with the assumption that Mr. Khatami will ‎run in next year’s presidential election. What do you think is different about the Khatami ‎of 2009 in comparison with 1997 or 2001?‎

Ali Tajernia (AT): To answer this question I think we must first understand that ‎conditions of the country today are unusual. All individuals in the reformist groups who ‎support Khatami’s participation in the next presidential race, or those of others, believe ‎that the benefit of Khatami’s presidential run would end the regressive conditions that ‎have been created by Ahmadinejad.‎

R: Do you think Mr. Khatami and his allies can implement reforms in Iran?‎

AT: Yes. First of all Mr. Khatami’s views over many issues have changed during the last ‎four years and his supporters too are now more aware of things. Meaning parties ‎supporting Khatami are more pro-active now.‎

R: What new hopes do you foresee?‎

AT: The political atmosphere of Iran has changed during the last four years. In the past, ‎the whole right opposed reforms and so there was a clear bipolar political atmosphere in ‎the country. But today, Mr. Ahmadinejad and the militant right have disrupted the inner ‎unity of the group. This has as a result created a better atmosphere for promoting reforms.‎

R: During the fifth Majlis were reformers not larger in number and more powerful in ‎influence? Do you think that situation may return during the eight Majlis?‎

AT: In view of the way elections are held in Iran where unfortunately the Majlis is not ‎made up of the most capable individuals in society, many representatives succumb to ‎power because of the change in conditions or the change in the power structure. This is of ‎course not a positive change, even though it is the reality.‎

R: Are you saying that even if a coalition shapes up in support of Mr. Khatami, the ‎atmosphere may change again?‎

AT: That is certainly true. As I said, the differences that now exist among principalists ‎‎(i.e. the ideologues ruling the country) are unprecedented. This week mixture cannot ‎easily unite itself against reformers. Furthermore, the right has shown its capabilities in ‎running the country during the last 4 years and it has been very unsuccessful. If the public ‎again supports Khatami, the right will not be able to air the same old goals and rhetoric ‎they had in the past because everybody knows them now.‎

R: So you see conditions more favorable for Mr. Khatami now.‎

AT: The elections that are ahead of us will not be free or fair. So we must not be ‎absolutely optimistic about Mr. Khatami’s participation in the presidential race or the ‎votes that he may get. If he decides to run, he must get a lot of votes. If he gets a small ‎edge over his conservative rivals, one cannot be optimistic that the results of the elections ‎will be correctly announced and fraud will easily take place.‎