Profile: Mohammad Khatami

Mohammad Khatami: The promise of radical change

BBC News Online profiles Iran's President Mohammad Khatami, the overwhelming favourite in the country's presidential elections on 8 June.

Mohammad Khatami arrived on the political scene in Iran with a stunning victory in the 1997 presidential elections.

Until then a little known cleric, he captured almost 70% of the vote, humiliating the conservative candidate.

This is a man who went on public buses. He's the kind of baby-kissing politician we're used to in the United States

Analyst Elaine Sciolino

Mr Khatami promised Iranians change, and women and the young came to vote for him with an enthusiasm that has not been seen in previous elections.

Unlike the dour, unsmiling ayatollahs Iranians had become accustomed to, here was an Islamic leader of a very different kind.

"He didn't just charm me, he charmed the whole country - and that's why he was elected in 1997 in that stunning victory," says Elaine Sciolino, a writer on Iran for the New York Times .

"This is a man who went on public buses. He's the kind of baby-kissing politician we're used to here in the United States. He rolled up his sleeves publicly and gave blood. He tries to straddle the world of Islam and Islamic clericalism, and the world of the people."

Iranians were struck by the new president's openness to fresh ideas.

Opposition and achievements

At the end of his first term, Mr Khatami has not been able to put his reformist programme into practice.

Khatami's discourse of civil society, democracy, transparency, rule of law, and all this - which were quite absent in the 1980s - became dominant concepts, so that even certain segments of the conservatives tried to speak a similar language

Iranian sociologist Asef Bayat

He has faced staunch opposition from the conservatives who control many of the country's main institutions, despite reformist control of the parliament.

Much of the press that backs Mr Khatami's reforms has been silenced, and many of the president's supporters have been jailed or face charges.

But there have been some notable achievements.

"First of all, there's a change in ideas, and that's very important. Khatami's discourse of civil society, democracy, transparency, rule of law, and all this - which were quite absent in the 1980s - became dominant concepts, so that even certain segments of the conservatives tried to speak a similar language," Iranian sociologist Asef Bayat argues.

Gradualist

Mr Khatami believes in gradual change, despite the pressure from his own supporters who want faster and more radical reforms.

Khatami facts

Born in 1943 in Ardakan in the province of Yazd Province

Father was a well-known cleric and friend of Ayatollah Khomeini

He is married and has three children Speaks Arabic, English and German as well as Farsi

Was cultural adviser to his predecessor Hashemi Rafsanjani and head of Iran's National Library

Though the political and social reforms he proposes for Iran are far reaching, and in some ways revolutionary, Mr Khatami has no interest in destabilising the state and wants to see change without bloodshed.

The disappointment of his reformist supporters has led many to question whether the president can deliver even gradual reform.

Announcing his candidacy, Mr Khatami described himself as a "reluctant" candidate because of his failure to deliver what he promised four years ago.

Despite all his difficulties, Mr Khatami is still expected to win by a large majority.

Most Iranians agree with their president that, sooner or later, change in Iran is inevitable despite the rearguard action of the conservatives.