In an interview with ISNA published on Sunday, the spokesperson for the Combatant Clergy Association said the reformists will be the principlists’ “main rival” in the February 2016 parliamentary election.
Hojatoleslam Gholam Reza Mesbahi Moqaddam also predicted that the number of pro-reform lawmakers will increase in the next parliament, but said he believes the principlists will be able to retain their majority.
Elsewhere, he expressed hope that the mainstream principlist groups would be able to achieve “convergence” with the emerging Resistance Front, noting that if they fail to achieve unity, it will be likely that the principlists split and lose their votes.
