By Xinhua,
TEHRAN : Iran’s former reformist president Seyed Mohammad Khatami announced his decision on Sunday to run in the upcoming presidential elections, Iran’s semi-official Mehr news agency reported.
“Here, I earnestly announce my candidacy in the elections,” said Khatami at a press conference, adding that “I announce that, from the beginning until now, in spite of whatever had been said, I never hesitated (in my decision).”
It was rumored in the past months that Khatami was hesitated to run for the upcoming presidential elections which will be held on June 12, 2009.
“My hesitation was about how to participate in the elections. Is it possible for someone to think about the fate of nation and then hesitate about participating in the important event of elections?” he was quoted by the official IRNA news agency as saying.
He added that “Thanks to God that we are not indifferent to the elections and consider it our right to run for it. All of us feel committed to the country.”
“This (My participation) will never block the way for anyone and any movement (to run for the elections),” he said.
“What we are insisting upon is the free and good elections to be held… and the responsibility of holding free elections is upon its executives,” he said, according to IRNA.
Khatami also emphasized the role of the civil institutions and the parties in the political scene of the country, saying that “I have always attempted and will attempt to let the civil institutions and the parties to be present in the scene.”
Khatami was elected president in 1997 and served in office for two terms until 2005.
Another Iranian cleric, the two-time former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi, who is claimed to be in the camp of the reformists, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 presidential elections, already announced bid for presidency.