By Masih Alinejad

At a recent soccer match between South Korea and Iran, the young women of Tehran, who have been deprived of attending sporting events at stadiums, were finally able to join the audience and applaud their favorite teams. However, the persistent struggle of women in the capital to win the right to attend sporting events has no meaning for the women of small towns and distant villages. Rural women are deprived of basic wages and rights, and they view the struggle of women in the capital with sarcasm, saying that those whose bellies are full have the luxury to fight to attend a sporting event.

In Iran’s election atmosphere, the competition between reformists and conservatives is somewhat akin to the disconnect between women in the capital and in the villages. The issues that concern reformists have absolutely no meaning for conservatives, and the reformists’ efforts toward political freedoms seem nonsensical to conservatives, who accuse reformists of being “pro-Western” and “well fed.”

Since former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election, he has been under attack in the conservative media, Friday mosque sermons, and the Islamic Consultative Assembly (ICA). Although Khatami has frequently mentioned Iran’s economic crisis in his speeches, conservatives believe his and his supporters’ primary goals are to create political openness, revive civil liberties, deescalate international crises, and strengthen Iran’s foreign relations. To counter Khatami’s platform, conservatives are using all official platforms under their control to reintroduce Khatami and his partisans as “women with full bellies” who have forgotten the people’s struggle to subsist and who pursue frivolous freedoms at the expense of serious daily concerns.

Hamid Rassaei, a pro-Ahmadinejad representative in the ICA, has tried to draw a stark contrast between the current and the former presidents. Referring to a personal recollection of one of Khatami’s deputies during his presidency, Rassaei exclaimed that people should know that Khatami’s eyes were red from staying up late to watch soccer matches, while Ahmadinejad’s eyes were red from sleeplessness and working hard to further serve the people. During rallies for the 30th anniversary of the Islamic Revolution, demonstrators held pictures of Ahmadinejad and shouted, “We do not need an American President… Ahmadi, Ahmadi, we support you”, implying that Khatami is a creature of the United States.

Kayhan, a conservative newspaper supervised by the office of Grand Ayatollah Khamenei the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic of Iran, has also attacked reformists, comparing their destiny to that of Pakistan’s Benazir Bhutto, who was assassinated in December 2007. Kayhan’s articles call up memories of an assassination attempt closer to home – that of Saeid Hajarian, a Khatami deputy, who was severely paralized by an attack by an extremist youth in Tehran – and strike fear in reformists about an extremist revival. Therefore, the reformists are anxiously asking: What message are the conservatives trying to send with the comparison of Khatami to Bhutto?

Although no one has formally stepped in from the conservatives, attacks against reformists are serious and organized. Iranian conservative groups are not readily willing to surrender their power, and are already planning to persuade Iran’s public, particularly the poor, that pro-Western reformists are pursuing freedoms that are contrary to Islam. References to Khatami shaking hands with a woman on a trip to Italy are prevalent. Conservatives are already establishing the grounds to prove to society’s more traditional sectors that Khatami can endanger Islamic values as much as seating men and women in the same stadium.

In addition to Khatami, former ICA Speaker and leader of Iran's reformist National Confidence Party Mehdi Karroubi has indicated his intention to run for president. Karroubi’s reputation as a defender of student rights and civil-society activists has draw the support of the majority of political prisoners and human rights activists, including Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi. There are also rumors that Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was prime minister during the Iran-Iraq war, will run; some of his supporters have established a campaign for him.

Karroubi, who ran against Ahmadinejad in the previous elections, has taken a strong stand against electoral fraud. He has written to Ayatollah Khamenei, accusing the Ayatollah’s son of interfering directly in the election process, and to the Chief of the Joint Staff of the Army with allegations of the military’s interference in elections. Karroubi has also written numerous letters to the head of the Guardian Council Ayatollah Jannati, accusing him of illegally disqualifying presidential nominees. These letters, which have been publically released, have increased support for reformists in general and Karroubi, in particular. A group of Iranian media activists and party members have supported Karroubi by establishing a newspaper and writing numerous editorials. The group believes that Karroubi—who has been able to form a political party, start a newspaper, and establish the first private satellite television network in Iran—is the only centrist, reformist executive able to compete against Khatami.

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Note: This articles was translated from Farsi. The opinions expressed reflect those of the author, and not necessarily those of the National Democratic Institute or The Century Foundation.

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Published on Feb. 25, 2009