2009 Mir-Hossein Mousavi presidential campaign and Abdolhamid Diyalameh [Ph.D. holder and an MP] went to their lengths to remove Mousavi and Rahnavard from the political structure of the government but both were suspiciously martyred. After 20 years of absence from the political scene of Iran, on March 9, 2009 he announced his candidacy in the 2009 Iranian Presidential election. Mousavi refused to run for President in the 1997 Presidential election, which caused the reformists to turn to Mohammad Khatami, who won a landslide victory. Mousavi's wife, Zahra Rahnavard, explained in an interview that the reason for her husband not running in the 1997 election had
History of the Islamic Republic of Iran parliament. Despite high turnout and large enthusiastic crowds for reformist opponent Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Ahmadinejad was officially declared to have won by a 2–1 margin against three opponents. Allegations of voting irregularities and protest by Mousavi his supporters were immediate and continued off and on into 2011. Some 36–72 were killed and 4000 arrested. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei declared Ahmadinejad's victory a "divine assessment" and called for unity. He and others Islamic officials blamed foreign powers for fomenting the protest. However, by late 2010 several sources detected a "growing rift" between Ahmadinejad, and Khamenei and his supporters, with talk of impeachment