Iran Elections Indicate Dissent; Ahmadinejad May Be Vulnerable
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
TEHRAN, Iran — President Ahmadinejad may be vulnerable when he stands for re-election next year, after Iranian parliamentary elections showed discontent among fellow conservatives. The president does have a major advantage: support from Iran’s supreme leader. A key question will be whether Ayatollah Khamenei’s backing lasts until presidential elections expected in the summer of 2009.
Conservatives maintained their hold on the parliament in Friday’s election, but their camp is split over Mr. Ahmadinejad. His conservative opponents won a solid bloc that will likely clash with the president over the next year.
Reformists also managed to preserve their presence even though most of their candidates were barred from the race.
“If the government continues the policies that have been controversial, the majority of the parliament will be against it,” spokesman of the Inclusive Coalition of Principlists, an election slate of conservatives who have broken with the hard-line president, Amir Ali Amiri, said.
Mr. Amiri said the coalition might put forward a candidate for the presidency, but said “we must wait” until the political situation becomes clearer, according to the semi-official ISNA news agency.
