2009 Mir-Hossein Mousavi presidential campaign

Mousavi ran as an independent Principled Reformist candidate.[2] Although he is one of the original founders of the Iranian reformist camp, he shares many principles of the conservatives. Many reformist parties, among them reformist Islamic Iranian Participation Front, whose main candidate was Khatami, have supported his candidacy after the latter withdrew from the race.[3] Many supporters of the reformist movement have however objected to Mousavi's candidacy on the grounds that he is not committed to the principles of the reformist parties.[4] Although Mousavi stated that he was not running as a reformist, he indicated that he welcomed the support of different parties, both reformist and conservative.[5] He started his campaign from the center of the Iranian politics, however over time he shifted more towards the reformist camp by declaring his support for reforms. Although some active members of the conservative camp, such as Emad Afroogh, as well as the conservative newspaper Jomhouri Eslami, supported Mousavi's candidacy, he did not receive the official backing of any major conservative party. His candidacy made it harder for the conservatives to support Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, and large conservative parties, such as the Combatant Clergy Association, did not back the current President for the second term of office.[6]

The BBC reported that Mousavi "called for greater personal freedoms in Iran and criticised the ban on private television channels", but "refused to back down from the country's disputed nuclear programme, saying it is "for peaceful purposes".[7]

On May 30, Mousavi pledged that if elected he would amend "discriminatory and unjust regulations" against women, and take other measures in favour of women's rights and equality.[8]

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  Mousavi addressing supporters during a presidential campaign stop in Zanjan

On May 23, 2009, the Iranian government blocked access to Facebook across the country but lifted the blockage after protests from the public. Gulfnews.com reported that the former move had been a response to the use of Facebook by the candidates running against the incumbent Mr Ahmadinejad; Mousavi has great support by those using social networking sites such as Facebook.[9] PC World reported that Mousavi's Facebook page had more than 6,600 supporters at the time of the writing of the article.[10]