In May 2015, Hajjarian was allowed to give a short speech at University of Tehran. According to the reformist "Shargh" Daily, enthusiasm for the speech was so great that seats were filled up hours before the event. In a note he gave to a student to read, Hajjarian stated that the 1997 presidential election were the reformists prevailed were the first since the 1979 Iranian revolution in which there was "a competition", and that it "institutionalized" competition in the presidential elections, and introduced new debate on the issues of religion, economics and other foreign and domestic policies. But he believed those elections were an "exception" and doubtful of their repetition, "though he did not explain why", according to al-Monitor.