Former Iranian President Hasan Rouhani on Thursday called for free elections and a general referendum on foreign, domestic, and economic policies 332 days before the scheduled legislative elections.
During his meeting with the ministers and senior officials of his former cabinet, Rouhani said that this year would be a test for the regime to stage free and fair elections.
"The eyes of the world are on the elections so that they see, and we see, whether the elections are held in a healthy, competitive, and free manner or not," the former president said.
Rouhani voiced his successor Ebrahim Raisi in focusing on the recommendations of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who called for curbing inflation and boosting growth.
Rouhani said that the past year witnessed bitter events, resulting in most people, including the protesters, demanding a better life.
"The country needs reform, change, and transformation," he added, calling for tangible transformation that meets the popular demands.
Rouhani reiterated that the answer to people's demands in foreign and domestic policies and the economy could be found by holding referendums as envisaged by Article 59 of the constitution.
He explained that a single public referendum could record the people's responses to three questions on the foreign and domestic policies and the economy, stressing that this is a big step for transformation and would lead to optimism for a better future.
On Tuesday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said that the upcoming elections are critical and "can be a manifestation of national power."
During his reception of several officials and authority figures, Khamenei warned that if the elections were "not held properly, it shows the weakness of the country, nation, and officials, which makes us weaker and more vulnerable to enemy attacks and pressures."
According to the Supreme Leader, the relevant officials should determine the "participation, security, health and competition of elections" strategy to hold fair elections.
Khamenei first expressed the calls for a transformative approach on March 21 on Nowruz in Mashhad.
Referring to the recent protests, Khamenei said the transformation and transition the enemies want is the opposite of Iran's beliefs.
He said that the primary goal of the enemies behind using concepts such as “structural transformation,” “change,” and “revolution” was to change the identity of Iran, adding that the enemy's goal was to eliminate the strengths of the nation and government.
Meanwhile, Guardian Council spokesman Hadi Tahan Nazif pledged that the council began preparing for the upcoming February elections and would use all its powers to conduct them properly in line with its legal duties.
Iran will also witness the elections of the Assembly of Experts for Leadership, which includes 88 influential clerics, and one of its most significant tasks is to name the successor to the current Supreme Leader.
The Assembly holds elections every eight years, and the past elections sparked controversy after Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the Iranian Supreme Leader, was removed from the list of candidates.
Similarly, former reformist President Mohammad Khatami called for reforms and returning to the spirit of the Iranian constitution.
In his statement marking the 43rd anniversary of the Iranian revolution last February, Khatami said the way and approach followed made it impossible to meet the demands for reforms, reaching a dead end.
Khatami expressed his regret that the government did not show any sign of reform, saying that structural or behavioral reform would be less costly and more fruitful to get out of the crises.
Khatami responded to his ally, the reformist leader Mir-Hossein Mousavi, who called for drafting a new constitution and submitting it to a popular referendum in "free and fair" elections to change the regime's structure.
Mousavi described the structure and unsustainable basic system as a "major crisis" in a country facing many crises.
Mousavi, who has been under house arrest since February 2011, said that his campaign slogan for the 2009 presidential elections to implement the current constitution fully is no longer effective.
