Moderation and Development Party

Platform[edit]

The party is part of the faction called "modernist right", "moderate reformists" and "technocrats" that draws from upper-level bureaucrats, industrialists and managers.^[8] It deals with a platform on modernization and economic growth rather than social justice, along with the Executives of Construction Party and the Islamic Labour Party.^[9] The party has been allied with Popular Coalition of Reforms^[6] and Pervasive Coalition of Reformists^[10] in parliamentary elections and has had good relations with both Mohammad Khatami’s reform program and Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.^[2] In April 2017, the party joined the supreme policymaking council of reformists.^[11]


Some sources branded them as part of the conservative camp in the 2000s^[12][13][14] or reformists under the leadership of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.^[15] In 2003, the party's spokesperson wrote in Hamshahri that the party regards itself among "true reformists", who are idealists considering "social realities" interpreted with the "principle of moderation".^[16]


According to Ali Afshari, the party prioritizes economic expansion and follows free market policies, however a minority faction represented by members such as Nobakht, advocate institutionalized economy and maintain that the government should interfere to regulate markets to a limited extent.^[17] They support limited political and cultural transformations, and believe political activism should only be within the frameworks of the constitution. The party also embraces Velayat Faqih.^[17]