Mehdi Karroubi

Mehdi Karroubi ((Luri/Persian:مهدی کروبی), Mehdī Karrūbĩ; born 26 September 1937) is an influential Iranian reformist politician, democracy activist, mojtahed, and chairman of the National Trust Party. He was the chairman of the parliament from 1989 to 1992 and 2000 to 2004, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 and 2009 presidential elections.

He is a founding member and former chairman of the Association of Combatant Clerics party. Karroubi is a critic of the Guardian Council and Iran's Judicial System. By appointment of the Supreme Leader, he was a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and an adviser, posts he held until resigning from all his posts on 15 June 2005 after the first round of the 2005 presidential election.

He has been described as a "moderate" with a "mostly rural" base of support. Karroubi considers himself a pragmatic reformist and now is one of the leaders of the opposition movement in Iran.

Early life, education, and career

Mehdi Karroubi was born on 26 September 1937 into a Shia clerical family in Aligoudarz, a city in the western part of Lorestan province. He has a brother, Hassan.