Journalists stated that he may "have played a leading role in orchestrating" Ahmadinejad's electoral victory, and that he may be "a key figure in orchestrating the crackdown against anti-government protesters" in June 2009, and directly in charge of the paramilitary Basij, a blackout of his name in the regime press notwithstanding. In an open letter, Mehdi Karroubi, ex-chairman of the Majlis (parliament) and a reformist candidate in the 2009 presidential vote, explicitly accused Mojtaba Khamenei of participating in a conspiracy to rig the election, referring to illegal interference of "a network".