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Khatami Keeps Supporters Waiting For Re-Election Decision
TEHRAN, March 11 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - President Mohammad Khatami vowed Sunday that democracy in Iran was here to stay in a dramatic speech before parliament that left his supporters hopeful he will stand for re-election in June, the Iranian news agency (IRNA) online edition reported.
Khatami, however, addressed his much-awaited speech to lawmakers without announcing whether he will run for a second term in office. Many analysts predicted that he would reveal his intention to seek re-election as his four-year term in office nears expiration.
In the address, Khatami criticized officials trying to discharge their responsibility and stoked up tension under the pretext of the disturbances and hurdles they are faced with in performing their mandatory burden.
"No servant is allowed to cause tension in the country by revealing the worries he is faced with," Khatami told the reformist-majority parliament (Majlis) in an address focusing on his accomplishments in office.
"I admit that I have not revealed all my worries in the society, not out of personal foresight, but because of national interests," Khatami was quoted by IRNA as saying.
It was not clear why the reformist cleric stopped short of declaring his candidacy outright less than three months before Iranians go to the polls in what will be one of the most closely watched elections in the nation's history.
"As long as the people want me to be, I will be at their service. And if they do not want that, I will be elsewhere, but still at the service of the people," he said in a two-hour address carried live in state radio.
The eyes of the world have been on Khatami since he went public in recent months to express his frustration at a conservative backlash that has stymied his reform movement, sparking speculation he might decline to run.
The wholesale closure of newspapers and the jailing of prominent allies by the conservative-dominated courts have led him to acknowledge the limitations of presidential power in Iran.
But stressing one of the themes that helped sweep him to office with nearly 70% of the vote in 1997, Khatami insisted that, whether or not he stands as a candidate, democracy was the way forward for Iran.
"Individuals do not matter; the ultimate interests of the regime are what matter," he said. "We have no other choice but to establish democracy in our country."
He also cautioned that his ambitious program of liberalizing reforms, which have led to an easing of some social restrictions and helped the press flourish for a time, could not be guaranteed overnight.
"I am not an idealist, I know that we can't attain our goals in the blink of an eye," he said. "What we have accomplished is a step forward."
Khatami also addressed head-on the frequent conservative criticism that his reform program was not wholly in line with the Islamic values adopted in the 1979 revolution, which brought the clergy to power.
"Before I arrived on the political scene, there was a significant wave of protests saying that if I were elected, Islamic values would be forgotten or neglected," he said. "But the people decided otherwise."
Yet he also noted that the easing of cultural restrictions under his tenure had led to "abuses," adding: "What the people want is a process of gradual reform, established calmly and in line with Islamic values."
Several MPs, including his brother Mohammad-Reza, who heads the nation's largest pro-reform party, said the speech indicated that he would indeed run for a second term - the most allowed under the Iranian constitution. "We were happy to see signs that he will be a candidate," his brother told reporters after the address.
Since Khatami's 1997 win, his reform supporters have triumphed in municipal elections and last year ousted the conservative majority in parliament, giving him an apparent mandate for widespread reform.
But conservatives have fought back, muzzling newspapers and in January handing 10 leading reformists jail terms of between four and 10 years each for taking part in an "un-Islamic" political seminar in Germany last year.
The president made specific reference to some of the political crises that have erupted during his tenure, including the assassination of four intellectuals and dissidents by members of the intelligence services. But he vowed that the Islamic republic had "overcome its crises" and said his election four years ago was a "turning point" for the nation.
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