Rooz spoke with Hedayat Aghaei, member of the central council of Kargozaran Sazandeghi ‎‎party [a reformist group close to the Chairman of the powerful State Expediency Council ‎‎Hashemi Rafsanjani], who has warm relations with both the reformists and Hashemi Rafsanjani, ‎about his party's position in the upcoming presidential election. Read on for the exchange.‎

Rooz (R): What is the position of Kargozaran party with respect to the election?‎

Hedayat Aghaei (HA): There is an official position, and then there are positions held by ‎individuals. The party has officially announced that it will back Mr. Khatami if he chooses to ‎run…‎

R: That is correct, but several Kargozaran members have announced that the decision was to ‎back the reformist candidate; now that there are several reformist candidates, you cannot back ‎Mr. Khatami.‎

HA: Our decision was to back Khatami. We certainly encourage consensus in the reformist ‎camp, but the reformists are currently divided into two groups. Twenty-two groups, that are part ‎of the reformist coordination council, support Mr. Khatami. At the same time, the E'temad Melli ‎party supports Mr. Karoubi.‎

R: But Khatami has several serious opponents within the Kargozaran rank, including the party's ‎secretary general [Gholamhossein Karbaschi] and head of party's political office [Mohammad ‎Hashemi].‎

HA: Yes, there are several people - two or three - in the Kargozaran party that have differing ‎positions from that of the party and are opposed to Mr. Khatami's candidacy.‎

R: Have reasons for their opposition been announced?‎

HA: One of these individuals is opposed to it because, in his view, Mr. Khatami's presence ‎would unite the opposing camp. Another gentleman has personal grievances and his analysis is ‎that Mr. Khatami does not have the determination and risk-taking ability required for presidency.‎

R: But do you agree that it is not good for the party to have two of its most important officials ‎hold opposing views than those of the party and pursue other candidates?‎

HA: This is definitely not good, although a similar situation exists in other reformist groups. ‎When several influential candidates face off [individuals like Khatami and Karoubi] naturally ‎there would be divisions among their supporters.‎

R: Would this situation cause problems for the party?‎

HA: The party's body abides by the majority's opinion. From an organizational standpoint, we ‎don't have any problems. On a personal level, however, it really is unfortunate that some of our ‎members, who are influential and can generate votes, to reach differing conclusions.‎

R: Mr. Hashemi Rafsanjani is often noted as the spiritual father of the Kargozaran party. Have ‎you had a meeting with him about this?‎

HA: We have not had a meeting as a party, but there have been individual meetings and his ‎views have been inquired.‎

R: What are his views about the election?‎

HA: As far as I understand, Mr. Hashemi emphasizes unity in the reformist camp and has a ‎positive view on Mr. Khatami. ‎