TEHRAN, Iran — Conditions seem to be moving toward the smooth re-election of Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani after one of his main rivals, former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, announced that he will not be running in the May 2017 vote. But will the Reformists, who were Rouhani’s key supporters and the reason for his victory in the 2013 election, continue backing him? It appears as if the situation has not turned out the way the Reformists envisaged and that there is some dissatisfaction with Rouhani’s performance within their camp.
Reformist politician and member of parliament Mohammad Reza Aref, who quit the 2013 presidential race at the last minute to allow for a Reformist consensus around Rouhani, is one of the people who does not have a favorable view of the president. Aref, the head of the Reformist-moderate “List of Hope” for the Feb. 26 parliamentary elections, has continuously refrained from voicing his outright support for Rouhani in the upcoming presidential vote.