Mousavi Plans New Party

Reports have been coming in that Mir-Hossein Mousavi is planning to form a new political party in Iran. The party is intended to continue contesting last month’s presidential election and act as a voice for the opposition movement.

How much traction such a party might have in a second term of an Ahmadinejad presidency is dubious. Writing in the New Republic, Abbas Milani argues that the situation in Iran could be tough going under a man who said that his most recent election “heralded the death of liberal democracy in the world.” Ahmadinejad, Milani warns, has hinted several times “at his wish to follow in the footsteps of Hugo Chávez by changing the constitution and becoming a life-time president.” Still, Ahmadinejad will have to face “the continued defiance of the Iranian people” and an economic crisis that requires him to create one million jobs per year just to keep unemployment levels steady.