Mohammad-Ali Najafi
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Mohammad Ali Najafi (Persian: محمدعلی نجفی) (born January 13, 1952) is an Iranian politician and university professor in mathematics. He has been a minister and later a vice president for planning and budget, and has run for a seat in Tehran City Council in the Iranian City and Village Councils elections, 2006.
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[edit] Academic career
Najafi earned his B.Sc. in mathematics from Sharif University of Technology (then Aryamehr University). He then attempted a Ph.D. in mathematics at MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, but dropped out[1] in 1978[2] during the Iranian revolution and returned to Iran. As of December 2006, he has been an instructor[2] at the Department of Mathematic Science at Sharif University of Technology since 1979,[3] working on representation theory[2].
[edit] Political career
After the Iranian revolution of 1979, Najafi returned to Iran, immediately beginning his political career. Starting as a consultant to Mostafa Chamran and later the president of Isfahan University of Technology (1980–1981),[3] Najafi served as the Minister of Culture and Higher Education from 1981 to 1984[2][3] in the cabinet of then Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi. In 1988 he became the Minister of Education under President Hashemi Rafsanjani and served until 1997.[2][3] In 1997, he was appointed Vice President and Head of the Planning and Budget Organization by President Mohammad Khatami, but after a merge of his organization with another and a renaming to Organization for Management and Planning, he was succeeded by Mohammad Reza Aref. Najafi was an advisor to President Khatami and the senior advisor to the Minister of Industries from 2001 to 2005.[3]
[edit] Candidacy for Tehran City Council
In the Iranian City and Village Councils elections, 2006, Najafi ran for a seat in Tehran City Council. He headed a list named "The Union of reformists" (ائتلاف اصلاحطلبان). This was the first time Najafi ran in a general election in Iran.
[edit] Presidential ambition
During the autumn of 2004, Najafi was a common favorite to be the reformist candidate for the 2005 presidential election, but he denied his interest in favor of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's candidacy and was then favored to become vice president under Rafsanjani. َAfter Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's victory in the election, Najafi has been suggested as a presidential candidate in future elections.
[edit] References
- ^ Mohammad Ghouchani (محمد قوچانی) (2006-11-26). Why Najavi? (چرا نجفی؟) (HTML) (Persian). Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
- ^ a b c d e Faculty (HTML). Website of the Department of Mathematical Science of Sharif University of Technology. Retrieved on 2006-12-17.
- ^ a b c d e Paper publicity leaflet distributed by Setād-e Entexābāti-e Mohammad Ali Najafi (ستاد انتخاباتی محمدعلی نجفی), December 2006.
