A senior conservative politician believes if principlists do not succeed in forging a broad alliance for the Feb 26, 2016 parliamentary and Assembly of Experts elections, their hope for victory will turn out to be an impossible dream.
Briefing reporters on Tuesday, Mohammad Nabi Habibi, secretary general of the Islamic Coalition Party, said, "Principlists have recognized that the current circumstances are much more critical than in 2012 [referring to the previous Majlis poll], in other words, not managing to form a strong coalition will definitely be a recipe for failure."
Commenting on the changes in the House of Parties' statute, he stated, "From now on, principlists, reformists and independent parties will chair the house periodically and we welcome the new alteration," IRNA reported.
On disagreements between principlists, he said, "I cannot deny the existence of major differences between the Resistance Front of the Islamic Revolution and Majlis speaker Ali Larijani.
"He has the right to make his own decisions, yet needless to say, the Islamic Coalition Party, the Resistance Front and other principlist groups can exercise their legal rights as well."
Different Situation
He added that "I assume our political conditions are not comparable with those which have been prevailing during the term of the current Majlis in which principlists are in the majority in spite of the fact that they surprisingly compete with one another."
According to Habibi, some members of the Resistance Front have delivered heated speeches at Parliament and called for veteran principlists to set the stage for a powerful alliance, whereas they did not do so in the previous election.
Underlining the need for formation of a principlist coalition, he noted, "I am happy with the current trend and we will do our best to shape a coordination council whose principles are based on guidelines by the clerical establishment."
"There are inevitable differences between us [principlists]," he admitted, reiterating that the Islamic Coalition Party will not field even one candidate not backed by other principlists as all of them have faith in building a coalition.
Describing the performance of the current Majlis as positive, Habibi noted, "An efficient parliament is the one which is capable of addressing not only domestic but also international issues."
On the establishment of the inclusive pro-reform Union of Islamic Iran People Party, he said, "Reformists are also making efforts to form a coalition; moreover, those reformists who are faithful to principles of the Islamic Revolution are among our rivals and those who are not so will be treated as our enemies."
