TEHRAN - Iran's main reformist party met Thursday to decide whether Mostafa Moin, its candidate who was given last-minute approval to stand in presidential elections next month, should go ahead and contest the polls.
The fears are that even if Moin manages to pull off a shock win on June 17, he would simply be a lame-duck president and unable to honour his campaign pledges due to opposition from more powerful hardliners.
Nevertheless the indications were that the Islamic Iran Participation Front (IIPF), Iran's main reform party, would push their candidate into the race -- in which pragmatic conservative and top cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani is seen as the frontrunner.
"According to what we have heard today, we have to stand," Issa Saharkhiz, a senior IIPF member and aide to Moin, told AFP after a long party meeting.
IIPF officials said a final decision was expected Saturday after a ballot of the party membership, but added certain conditions may be set -- such as Moin being able to have his own choice of cabinet approved if he wins.
"I completely support his standing in the elections. We will come back even more powerful and even more determined. We will try to bring all Iranians to the ballot box," said party leader Mohammad Reza Khatami, brother of outgoing President Mohammad Khatami.
The Guardians Council, a hardline political watchdog which screens all candidates for public office, had initially blocked Moin from standing in the election.
The former higher education minister has been seen as the most credible reform candidate, and his disqualification was greeted with accusations of a "coup d'etat" by hardliners and calls for a damaging boycott.
Following the intervention of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the Guardians Council backed down and agreed to allow Moin and another reformist to stand after all, bringing the field of contenders to eight.
"The problem is, if my competence is approved in this way, I will have serious problems with public opinion," Moin said.
But even if he does stand, he will have an uphill struggle to bring out voters frustrated by the perceived failure of President Khatami to overcome more powerful hardliners.
"It will be a Herculean task to mobilise the support of 2.4 million students who formed the most significant voter bloc for reformists in the last two presidential elections," the Iran Daily newspaper commented.
Furthermore, he will have to beat off Rafsanjani, who is seeking a comeback as the 26-year-old regime's number-two and seizing the largely vacant political centre by pledging to save the country from "extremists".
Rafsanjani, a 70-year-old cleric, is seen as a deal-maker who favours improved ties with the West and economic liberalisation -- something that may lure voters tired of Iran's international isolation and high unemployment.
He could also draw on support from many past reformist voters, eager to elect someone with more political clout -- even though Rafsanjani is far from being a radical reformer.
The other five candidates are hardliners Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Ali Larijani, Mahmud Ahmadi Nejad and Mohsen Rezai -- all veterans of the hardline Revolutionary Guards -- plus the moderate former parliament speaker Mehdi Karoubi.
Qalibaf, a populist former national police chief, has been tipped by informal opinion polls -- to be treated with caution -- as running a distant second behind Rafsanjani.
With campaigning just one day old, dirty tricks ranging from rumours to Internet hacking were in action.
Rafsanjani was forced to insist that he was not pulling out of the race -- "rumour-mongering" allegedly started by his hardline rivals.
Larijani, was also forced to dismiss a rumour that he was pulling out in favour of Rafsanjani, likewise blaming a "psychological war". The Larijani camp also complained that one of their "adversaries" had hacked and brought down the campaign website.

05/26/2005 15:29 GMT