Rezaei plans to create ‘affluent society’ in Iran

Iranian presidential candidate Mohsen Rezaei says economic development in Iran is impossible without reforms in its power structure, declaring “reform from within” and a “novel economic architecture” as two of his goals.

Speaking in a press conference at IRNA on Tuesday (June 15), Rezaei said he planned “a bid change to and surgery on Iran’s politics and economy.”

“Economy and politics are the two sides of the same coin. Without economic reform, politics cannot go far enough; and [economic] power without an economic plan will [only] result in what we have been seeing for the past 50 years,” he said.

“Over the past years,” Rezaei added, “administrations with different approaches have been in power, but we witnessed no impact on the country’s economic trends. My plan… is to bring about a big change to politics and the economy.”

He said Iran needed “sound governance,” and added that he was after creating “an affluent society” in the country — a goal he said would be impossible without national unity and mobilization.

Rezaei said his potential “administration of action and breakthrough” would be the first since the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s to be based on national unity. “Only merits will be the priority, and being a Principlist or a Reformist will be of secondary priority,” he said. “We have no right to exclude people of such competence.”

The paycheck

He also defended a campaign promise to offer 4,500,000 rials (10.9 dollars) to Iranian households every month, and unveiled a paycheck of the same figure that he said would be issued to the Iranians. The check was issued to the “noble people of Iran” and was signed Mohsen Rezaei.

The cash handout plan, which envisions a ten-fold increase in the sum currently being handed out to Iranian households, has drawn criticism from some observers, who say the cash injection would raise inflation. In his Tuesday remarks, Rezaei said he had had all economic issues in mind when conceiving that plan and sought to direct the cash toward creating a higher output, in which case, he said, a rise in inflation would not happen.

Another presidential candidate, Alireza Zakani, who is also a Principlist, has criticized Rezaei’s plan, questioning how he would be able to provide the financial resources to pay the handouts.

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