Senior Iranian officials gathered early Thursday in Tehran to witness the beginning of the process by which reformist President Mohammad Khatami will begin his second four-year term in office, said reports.
The Islamic republic's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is scheduled to hand over a decree to Khatami allowing him to begin his second and last term in office. The ceremony is to be witnessed by hundreds of political personalities and members of the diplomatic corps in Iran, reported the Tehran Times.
The moderate cleric is scheduled to be sworn in by the reform-dominated Parliament on Sunday.
He must then submit to the chamber a list of his new cabinet within 15 days.
Khatami, 57, was re-elected on June 8 with 77 percent of the votes, in a race against nine other mostly conservative presidential candidates.
Khatami also won by a landslide in 1997 when he was first elected to office.
Khatami will face several obstacles during his second term, including an ultraconservative judiciary, an economically devastating drought, and rampant attempts to smuggle drugs from Afghanistan via Iran – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
