Servants of Construction Party will mull endorsing Najafi, Jahangiri in presidential election

TEHRAN,Jan.27(MNA) – Two heavyweight members of the Servants of Construction Party, namely Mohammad Ali Najafi and Es’haq Jahangiri, are being considered as two potential reformist candidates in the June presidential election. Speaking to the Persian service of the Mehr News Agency published on Saturday, the SCP Secretary General, Gholam Hossein Karbaschi, said the party is mulling over support for Najafi, Jahangiri, and any other candidate who seeks “reforms”. Najafi is a sitting Tehran city councilor who also served as director of the dissolved Management and Planning Organization during the Khatami administration. And Jahangiri acted as industry minister under Rafsanjani and Khatami administrations. Karbaschi said the SCP will not enter the election race independently of other reformist groups. Given the “current situation” and the problems created in the country over the last eight years of Ahmadinejad’s presidency, the SCP is seeking to “present a plan” in cooperation with reformers ahead of the presidential election, Karbaschi added. He also said he believes that reformers should be actively involved in the presidential campaign. “We believe that we should be active in the election, and we try to direct the people’s vote in a way that would be in the interests of the country.” Asked if it is possible that reformists would back a principlist candidate in the presidential polls, he said this will depend on a decision by different groups within the reformist camp, adding, “So far this issue has not been seriously discussed.” When asked if this principlist figure can be Hassan Rohani, he said Rohani is a “moderate” figure, and “I do not think he considers himself principlist in that sense.” Rohani, the director of the Expediency Council Strategic Research Committee and a former Supreme National Security Council secretary, has not ruled out presidential bid.