Mohammadreza Aref, the former vice president and a senior reformist figure, registered today, May 10, to run in the 11th presidential election.
Aref, who threw his hat in the ring four days after the registration began, served as vice president under Mohammad Khatami and is currently a member of the Expediency Council.
IRNA, the official state news agency, reported that Aref arrived at the Interior Ministry today and that he “aligns himself with a few members of the reformist cabinet.” The Fars News Agency referred to Aref as the candidate endorsed by reformists.
While reformist candidates from the last election remain under house arrest and former president Mohammad Khatami is being threatened and warned against entering the race, Aref is being referred to as a “moderate reformist.”
Aref, born in 1950, is an electronics graduate from the University of Tehran as well as U.S. universities. He was also a professor at Esfahan Industrial University.
The Mehr News Agency has quoted Aref saying that in the 2009 election “there were some violations but not vote fraud.” The report indicates that Aref went on to call for the release of reformist leaders who are under arrest for challenging the results of the last election.
MirHosein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, the two reformist candidates of the tenth elections, have been under house arrest since February 2011.
