Tehran: Iran opposition leader Mehdi
Karroubi, who had refused to accept Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's
re-election, revealed on Monday in a major position shift that he
now recognised the hardliner as President.
Karroubi's son, Hossein, told a news agency about his father's new
stance, making him the first opposition leader to explicitly
accept Ahmadinejad's victory in the June 12 poll which
returned him to office for a second term.
"I am still of the same belief that the election was
unhealthy and massively rigged. But since the (supreme) leader
(Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) endorsed (Ahmadinejad's victory), I
believe that he is the head of the government, meaning he is
the President," Hossein quoted his father as saying.
Hossein spoke to a news agency when asked to confirm an earlier
report by Fars news agency quoting his father as acknowledging
Ahmadinejad to be the President.
Fars asked Karroubi whether he now recognises Ahmadinejad
as president.
The ex-speaker of parliament, who won the fewest number
of votes in the June election, replied: "I still maintain that
there were problems (in the poll), but with regard to your
question, I should say that I recognise the president."
Karroubi, along with main opposition leader Mir Hossein
Mousavi, had earned the wrath of the Islamic republic's
hardliners over the past eight months for vociferously
campaigning against Ahmadinejad's re-election.
PTI
First Published: Monday, January 25, 2010, 21:04