Reform Candidate Withdraws in Iran

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Source: NYT

TEHRAN — Reversing a decision made five weeks ago, Mohammad Khatami, Iran’s reformist former president, has decided to withdraw from the June presidential race to support a political ally, the country’s semiofficial news agency reported Tuesday.
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Mr. Khatami told campaign staff members at a meeting on Sunday that he expected to drop out of the race, according to news reports, and a close aide, Saeed Leylaz, a political analyst and economist, said Monday that his withdrawal was certain, as did two other members of Mr. Khatami’s campaign staff.

The Fars news agency on Tuesday quoted a statement from Mr. Khatami that said, “I announce my withdrawal from candidacy.”

“He does not want to compete with Mir-Hussein Moussavi,” said Mr. Leylaz, referring to a former prime minister who announced last week that he would run in the presidential election on June 12. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is expected to seek re-election.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/18/world/middleeast/18iran.html

[karynnj]

1. Here's the Wikipedia article on his background

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mir-Hossein_Mousavi

He is one of the reformers - as Khatami is, but he was also the Prime Minister during the Iraq/Iran war. It looks like a wise move to avoid dividing the vote.

[bemildred]

2. Thank you, that was interesting. nt