Iran`s United Front of Principlists holds first meeting

TEHRAN, Nov. 27 (MNA) – The first general meeting of the United Front of Principlists was held in Tehran on Thursday. A number of principlist heavyweights, including Ayatollah Mohammad Reza Mahdavi Kani, the Assembly of Experts chairman who has taken the leadership of mainstream principlists, Ali Akbar Velayati, the spokesman for the front, and Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel, a member of the front’s central council, attended the meeting. Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani delivered a speech at the conference, in which he commented on the March parliamentary elections and advised the principlists against doing a demolition job and slandering. He also called on the principlists to take part in the elections with sincere intentions. The principlists should stop leveling criticism against each other, Ayatollah Mahdavi Kani said, adding, “If we stand by each other, the enemies will not be able to do a damn thing.” The principlists should not allow some differences of opinion to cause discord among them, he added. Velayati also delivered a speech at the meeting and said that the front should field candidates who have proved their allegiance to the causes of the Islamic system. Haddad Adel also calling on the principlists to maintain unity in order to not allow the principlists’ vote to be split. The front held a large gathering on November 17 to coordinate efforts among the principlists in the run-up to the parliamentary elections. A statement was also issued at the end of the gathering of principlists, which called on the principlist groups and figures to make every effort to foster unity among them in order to foil enemies’ plots.