Parliamentary Career
Ahmad Tavakoli was elected as a representative from Behshahr in Iran’s first parliament following the revolution. He returned to parliamentary politics in the seventh, eighth, and ninth sessions as a conservative representative from Tehran. His legislative work was marked by a focus on social justice, transparency, and principlist values.
He also served as the head of the Majlis Research Center, a powerful parliamentary think tank tasked with policy development and oversight.
Presidential Campaigns and Political Philosophy
Tavakoli ran for president twice. In 1993, he was the primary challenger to then-president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani. In the 2001 election, he again ran and finished second to incumbent President Mohammad Khatami. While most conservatives stayed on the sidelines in 2001, Tavakoli launched a candid campaign that criticized the government’s economic performance and warned against neoliberal tendencies.
He was also involved in the lead-up to the ninth presidential election in 2005. Although he initially entered the race, he later withdrew in favor of Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, adhering to an internal conservative agreement to back the candidate leading in the polls. Tavakoli later criticized Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for failing to include experienced principlists in his cabinet, recounting that Ahmadinejad told him he did not want “generals” in government. Tavakoli retorted, “The government is the place of generals who are coordinated by a senior general.”