17 March,2009 01:24 PM IST | | AFP
Iran's reformist ex-president Mohammad Khatami on Tuesday formally announced his plan to withdraw from the June presidential election.
In a statement released on a website of his supporters, the charismatic cleric said he was withdrawing from the election in a bid to avoid any division of votes among reformist candidates.
"I announce my withdrawal from the 10th presidential election," Khatami said in the statement that was released after he held a late-evening meeting with his supporters and campaign officials. He also called for a 'free and fair election'.
Khatami, 65, was Iran's president from 1997 to 2005 and had last month declared plans to compete in the June 12 vote.
Iran's former prime minister Mir Hossein Mousavi and ex-parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi are the other two candidates in the race, while incumbent hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is yet to formally announce his candidacy.
Ahmadinejad is reportedly backed by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Without openly supporting anyone in particular, Khatami said Mousavi and Karroubi had the 'merits' to become the next president of the Islamic republic.
