Ahmadinejad asks Khamenei for free and immediate elections

Former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose contested re-election plunged Iran into its largest street protests since the 1979 revolution, has written an open letter addressed to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for free elections. Ahmadinejad said the letter, published on his website Dolat-e Bahar on Feb. 21, was in response to a Feb. 18 speech by Khamenei in which the supreme leader discussed discontent among the public and shortcomings within government institutions and even welcomed criticism about himself.

Ahmadinejad made three recommendations for reform in the country. The first began, “Freedom and the exercise of self-determination is the fundamental right of people and one of the goals of the revolution, as directly stated in the constitution, and the Islamic system was set up to secure these rights.” He continued, “An immediate and free presidential and parliamentary election, without the engineering of the Guardian Council and the interference of military and security institutions, is an urgent need.”