| Submit your comments on this article |
| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Months after vote, Mousavi names opposition party |
| 2009-08-16 |
| [Iran Press TV Latest] Amid talks of the emergence of an opposition political party in Iran, top figure of the nascent Green movement Mir-Hossein Mousavi confirms taking preliminary steps to establish the party. The leading opposition figure Mousavi made an official announcement on Saturday affirming that he was working to forge a new political party to pursue his political goals. In a meeting with members of the Islamic Association of Iran's Medical Society, Mousavi made public the name of his party -- the Green Path of Hope Association. "The color green is the symbol of this movement; its slogan is demanding the impeccable implementation of the Constitution, and innumerable self-motivated independent societies form the body of this movement," Mousavi explained. The defeated presidential candidate had earlier said that the establishment would give a legal political framework to the Green movement, adding that by forming this body he sought to "defend the rights and votes of citizens that were crushed in the election." Following the June 12 vote, hundreds of thousands of Mousavi's green-clad supporters took to the streets asserting that the presidential election was "rigged". At least 30 people were killed in the unrest, according to officials, while nearly 4,000 hundreds of protestors, political activists and journalists were rounded up over the course of opposition demonstrations. Some 300 protesters remain in custody. Earlier, one of Mousavi's senior aides, Alireza Beheshti, said that forming a party would pave the way for the 67 year-old opposition figure to keep up his protests against the results of the 10th presidential election through a new platform. "The establishment of this front is on Mir-Hossein Mousavi's agenda," he told Iran's Labor News Agency (ILNA). "We will soon announce its establishment." By forming a party Mousavi will have the right to call political rallies and demand government permission for them. The move comes as many Principlist figures along with senior members of the powerful Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) have demanded that Mousavi and his supporters be barred from further participation in Iranian politics. Meanwhile, one influential Principlist figure, Habibollah Asgaroladi, head of the Islamic Coalition Party, has so far endorsed the creation of a Mousavi-led political party. "Establishing a party to voice one's ideas and political perceptions is a wise move," Asgaroladi said in July. However, many Principlists in the country see the move as a chance in which defiant Mousavi would eventually acknowledge the legitimacy of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's election victory and his government. "If Mousavi considers the government to be legitimate and asks for permission (to set up the party), then it is a good and positive move and we will welcome it," said Mohammad-Reza Taraghi, a member of the Principlist Islamic Coalition Party. Mousavi, however, continues to strike a defiant tone making clear that protests against the disputed re-election of President Ahmadinejad "will not end." The former prime minister said that he would not give in to "pressures" that he said were aimed at "making me change my position regarding the annulment of the election." |
| Posted by:Fred |