Ahmadinejad Adheres to 'Electoral Silence', Distances Himself from Iranian Opposition

A photo published by Ahmadinejad’s website from his meeting with MP Ahmed Ali Reza Beghi on the outskirts of the city of Tabriz in the northwest of the country, August 2019.

An Iranian lawmaker with close ties to former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the latter will maintain his current silence in the parliamentary elections scheduled for next February, ruling out at the same time that the controversial president intends to join the opposition camp that raises the slogan of overthrowing the ruling regime.

The deputy added that Ahmadinejad does neither intend to participate in the upcoming legislative elections, nor support any electoral lists or candidates.

In a press interview, the representative of the city of Tabriz, MP Ahmed Ali Reza Baghi, said that electoral plans were not behind Ahmadinejad’s silence since the hardline conservative president, Ebrahim Raisi, took office two years ago.

For his part, Baghi denied that Ahmadinejad was close to becoming an opponent of the regime, saying: “Ahmadinejad does not want to become another Reza Pahlavi,” referring to the Shah’s son who aspires to lead those demanding the overthrow of the current regime.

Ahmadinejad had harshly criticized the Iranian government and judiciary during the term of former President Hassan Rouhani, especially after he was removed from the presidential race in 2017.

Beghi said in this regard: “[Ahmadinejad] spoke about the problems and defects very frankly and clearly when it was needed, but he prefers to remain silent in view of the current circumstances” in Iran.

The Iranian deputy expressed his regret that the country was going through situations that Ahmadinejad had warned would happen. He said that recalling these warnings at the present time was like “rubbing salt in the wound.”

Beghi specifically referred to Ahmadinejad’s positions between 2015 and 2017. In July 2015, Tehran and the major powers announced that they had reached the nuclear agreement, which entered into force in mid-January 2016.

In 2017, Rouhani won a second presidential term, against his main rival, Ebrahim Raisi. Ahmadinejad was excluded from the election race, after he submitted his candidacy, although Khamenei had asked him not to run for the elections.

Between the date of signing the nuclear agreement and the end of Rouhani’s second term, Ahmadinejad turned into a fierce critic of the government’s policies and the ruling establishment, despite his repeated failure in the elections.