Mehdi Karroubi

Karroubi, who ran third in the official results of the presidential election, is a veteran cleric-politician and former parliament speaker backed by some moderate clerics as well as rural voters. He campaigned against Ahmadinejad by casting himself as the natural successor to Khatami as head of the reformist movement. But it proved to be his second consecutive presidential-election defeat and the second time he would cry foul over the vote tally. In 2005, amid charges of ballot-stuffing, Ahmadinejad narrowly defeated Karroubi for the second-place position and the chance to face Rafsanjani in the crucial runoff election.

— Scott Macleod

• 
• Click to Print

• Find this article at:
• https://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1905910_1905908_1905897,00.html