Khatami has not asked Aref to pull out of election in favor of Rohani: office

TEHRAN,May 27(MNA) – The office of former president Mohammad Khatami issued a statement on Sunday dismissing a report which had claimed Khatami has recommended his former deputy Mohammad Reza Aref to withdraw his presidential candidacy in favor of Hassan Rohani. The statement said, as usual, Khatami will publish his views about the presidential election, which is set for June 14, on his official website. Rohani, a centrist candidate, is the director of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council. Aref is a pro-reform candidate who served as first vice president under Khatami. The Mordomsalari Party (Democratic Party) issued a statement on Sunday advising Aref and Rohani to do a “coalition” in order to avoid the “bitter experience” of the 2005 election in which reformists and moderate principlists were divided between four candidates namely Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Mehdi Karrubi, Mostafa Moin, and Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh. The party also called for a revision of the qualification of Rafsanjani and Mostafa Kavakebian, the Mordomsalari Party leader, by the Guardian Council so that they can stand for the presidential election.