TEHRAN – Servants of Construction Party Secretary General Gholam-Hossein Karbaschi believes that only top reformist figures Mahdi Karrubi and Mohammad Khatami can settle differences within the reformist camp.

“The key to resolve the problems among reformists is in the hands of Khatami and Karrubi,” Karbaschi told the Mehr News Agency on Sunday.
Mahdi Karrubi, the National Confidence Party Secretary General, said last week that he will announce within the next two weeks whether he will run for president or not. The announcement by Karrubi came after NCP spokesman Esmaeil Gerami-Moqaddam said on August 26 that the party has nominated Karrubi for the 2009 presidential elections.
The announcement was viewed as the first signs of division among reformists in the run-up for the presidential elections.
Immediately after the declaration by the NCP spokesman, the Islamic Revolution Mojahedin Organization (IRMO) insisted that it will only back Mohammad Khatami for the presidential post.
Former president Khatami has so far resisted pressure to accept to contest next year’s election.
“The National Confidence Party’s decision to nominate Karrubi has created the first division among reformists as the Mojahedin Organization believes Khatami would be the reformist party’s nominee for the 2009 vote,” Mohsen Armin, of the IRMO central council, told the Mehr News Agency.
Armin also called on the IIPP and IRMO to coordinate their efforts to introduce Khatami as the reformist faction’s nominee.
Karbaschi refused to say whether he will endorse Karrubi or Khatami for president, saying on one hand Khatami may be a favorite candidate as he is known among the people, and on the other hand Karrubi may have some good characteristics to contest the elections.
However, the former Tehran mayor said reformists must agree on a single candidate by relying on “collective wisdom”.
He said his party will definitely back the consensus candidate.
He also said except Karrubi and Khatami a “third person” may also be proposed as the presidential candidate.
The reformists must just think of a single candidate and the competition with rivals should not turn into infighting and this is something that may happen in the reformist camp, the SCP chief underlined.
“Khatami and Karrubi as two members of the Assembly of Combatant Clerics who should be a model for the young Muslim generation should sit together and resolve this issue between themselves and don’t allow their supporters” to create differences among reformists by backing one against the other, the pragmatist politician noted.
If reformists face infighting then “rivals will laugh at both of them,” Karbaschi warned.
Some groups and figures have suggested nominating former Supreme National Security Council (SNSC) secretary Hassan Rowhani, former interior minister Abdollah Nouri, and former Management and Planning Organization director Mohammad-Ali Najafi. Both Nouri and Najafi are members of the Servants of Construction Party.
Asked about the nomination of one of these three persons, Karbaschi said the fact that who is better for nomination should be carefully discussed with due attention to the current situation of the country