TEHRAN – The spokesman of the Hope parliamentary faction has announced that the faction will support President Hassan Rouhani in his bid to seek reelection.

In an interview with ISNA published on Saturday, Bahram Parsaei said, “The radical principlists cannot stand anyone other than their own radical choices.”

“They will not tolerate reformists nor moderates. They insist on their own positions despite being very unpopular and lacking a real chance of victory,” Parsaei noted.

He further said that the principlists will “definitely choose someone as their candidate” to represent them in the election.

He added it’s also possible that they nominate several candidates in the presidential election.

However, he said, if they fail to field a candidate their “campaign for future elections would be severely hurt.”

Parsaei also said that the principlists do not have a competent candidate with good chances of winning the election.

The spokesman of the Hope faction praised Rouhani’s performance, described his positions as “progressive and moderate”.

He also urged the opponents of the president to go beyond the partisan games and focus on their plans.

Iran plans to hold its 12th presidential election on May 19, 2017.

Rouhani, the self-described moderate president, is widely expected to seek a second term to further push ahead his economic plans after he clinched a nuclear deal with six world powers.

Under the deal, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), Iran has limited some of its nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.

MH/PA