Saeed Madani is a prominent Iranian sociologist and a member of the opposition group ‎that is commonly knows as Nationalist-Religious Opposition. Rooz spoke with him about ‎the idea of a government of national unity that is circulating in Iranian political circles as ‎a way out of the current political impasse. Here are the excerpts.‎

Rooz (R): What conditions must be present for the creation of a government of national ‎unity?‎

Saeed Madani (SM): A key condition is the understanding that the current crises and ‎threats can only be solved through a wide participation by social groups and equipping ‎them to deal with the problems.‎

R: Are these conditions present in Iran today?‎

SM: I think so. Both from the international perspective and also when we look at the ‎domestic issues and the economic, social and political crises. These certainly call for a ‎government of national unity. But whether there is a realization among political forces in ‎the country about this is not clear.‎

R: So you do not think that this issue is realized by the political groups?‎

SM: What I have said in the past is that the issue of a government of national unity ‎should be put on the strategic agenda of the country.‎

R: So this is not the current strategy?‎

SM: I believe most look at this as a tactical issue. Or perhaps some even look at it as an ‎election tactic.‎

R: How?‎

SM: There is a view that conservatists who are outside the executive branch have ‎launched this idea as a way to confront the extreme conservatists who are holding to ‎power and support president Ahmadinejad. They have so with the view that if the current ‎administration and Mr. Ahmadinejad stay for another term, all the interests of ‎conservatists and even the whole regime will face a serious crisis. So they think the best ‎way to get rid of Ahmadinejad is to promote this idea of a government of national unity. ‎On the other hand, this can also be an election tactic as an effort by conservatists to deny ‎the reformers the opportunity to come to power.‎

R: How?‎

SM: Their idea is to create the government of national unity around a conservative ‎individual while some power is passed on to the reformers. In this manner, the executive ‎power would remain in the hands of the conservatists while some quarters would be ‎relegated to reformers. One goal of this effort could be to reduce the chances of some ‎politicians such as Khatami from being eliminated. ‎