Khatami was under pressure from fellow reformists to announce his intentions regarding the upcoming election.
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His reputation for toughness and probity could appeal to conservatives as well as reformists.
In the debate both reformists and conservatives claimed to have religious law on their side.
Initially, many reformists were skeptical about Moussavi's reform credentials and feared that he was too conservative for their taste.
But the BBC south-east Asia correspondent says a big factor was the in-fighting in Vietnam between reformists and conservatives.
Iran's newly elected reformists ran western-style campaigns, complete with catchy placards and slogans.
Younger reformists lost seats at the last election or are now walking out.
After the 2009 European elections the UK Conservatives formed a new Eurosceptic grouping - the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR).
In saying this, I am not "demonizing" the Muslim Brotherhood or ignoring the fact that they too have their reformists.
Iranians remain uncomfortably aware that the Ansar-e-Hizbullah, a semi-official vigilante group, has in the past been accused of murdering reformists.
Since the religious nationalists were outsiders, and not in the government, they could articulate radical ideas more easily than the reformists.
Staunch conservatives, a more cohesive bunch, have been pushed to the sidelines by the ferocity of the battle among the reformists.
But the West is hopeful that the reformists' victory will help the thaw in relations with Iran to continue, even if slowly.
Reformists put forth an argument as simple as it was elitist: Take gin away and the poor would fall back into line.
Moreover, there is a conflict among Mr Abbas's own cadres between technocratic reformists like his prime minister, Salam Fayyad, and Fatah stalwarts.
Even more important than lobbying by Japan's manufacturers, say some reformists, will be the accumulation of pressures within the farm sector itself.
But reformists say they are confident that hard-liners will not want to use those powers to block legislation and risk angering a majority of Iranians.
The reformists may now be able to push such legislation through parliament.
Along with educationalists and reformists, George Dawson was adopted by what might be called the long-lifeists, an important group in the United States.
DPJ, led by Katsuya Okada, has clearly been frustrated by Mr Koizumi's skill at portraying Japan Post as a litmus test for reformists.
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But analysts say that as his stance shifted towards the US, his backing in Iran became weaker among Iranian conservatives but stronger among reformists.
One of the toughest hard-line commentators, Hossein Shariatmadari, conceded that the harshness of the death sentence had played into the hands of the reformists.
It was here that Mr. Vahedi finally broke with the reformists.
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Reformists from both camps put forth an argument as simple as it was elitist: Take gin away, and the poor would fall back into line.
In the past, however, bold reformists have fared badly in Afghanistan.
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Mr Rajai's popularity with the electorate raised conservative fears that the movement, with its liberal and western notions, might prove as dangerous as Mr Khatami's reformists.
The deal is an indication of how reformists in central government intend to use foreign capital and management skills as a way to shake up China's banks.
It is deeply split between technocrat reformists and left-wingers loyal to the memory of Omar Torrijos, an earlier dictator who modernised the country in the 1970s and early 1980s.
By offering a way out of the urban pensions mess, it gave reformists in government a reason to persuade dogged conservatives to let go of state control of industry.
He said the British Conservatives' new group, European Conservatives and Reformists, which espouses an anti-federalist agenda, was in fact part of "one giant coalition, all going in the same direction".
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