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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Shariatmadari denounces referendum call |
| 2009-07-22 |
| [Khaleej Times] A top Iranian hardliner on Tuesday denounced a call by leading reformists for a referendum to resolve the nation's deepening political crisis, branding it a Western plot to trigger more "havoc" in the Islamic republic. The Association of Combatant Clerics, a reformist clerical group led by former president Mohammad Khatami, on Monday urged a referendum to resolve the turmoil gripping Iran since the June 12 disputed presidential election. "They have suggested a yet another Western plot to raise havoc by proposing a referendum," said Hossein Shariatmadari, managing director of the hardline newspaper Kayhan who is appointed by supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. "The main idea of this plan is to trigger tension. Their proposal is illegal amd impractical," Shariatmadari wrote. He also said that if the referendum did take place, the result would be "more crushing" for the reformists than the presidential poll which saw Mahmoud Ahmadinejad re-elected by a landslide. Khatami's group voiced concern that "public confidence in the system has been damaged" by the election and its aftermath, which exposed deep divisions among Iran's elite in the worst crisis since the 1979 Islamic revolution. Khatami himself was a strong supporter Iran's main opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi who lost to Ahmadinejad in a vote he charged was marred by widespread fraud. |
| Posted by:Fred |