Former Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on February 21 spoke out against Iran’s ruling establishment on the banned Twitter platform, demanding “free” parliamentary and presidential elections and the dismissal of the country’s judiciary chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani.

Ahmadinejad, whose 2009 re-election prompted huge unrest over alleged vote rigging, is essentially demanding a complete overhaul of the existing power structure. In an outburst on an account verified as his, Ahmadinejad pursued what is becoming a public spat between him and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei as well as the all-powerful Larijani family which controls three branches of the Islamic Republic’s government power structure.

Openly addressing Khamenei, Ahmadinejad asked the supreme leader to “stop filtering candidates” prior to elections. The Guardian Council, which vets presidential and parliamentary candidates with respect to Khamenei’s wishes, last year disqualified from running in the presidential election which saw pragmatist Hassan Rouhani voted in for a second term.

Ahmadinejad also demanded the immediate replacement of judiciary chief Sadeq Amoli Larijani and the release of all political prisoners arrested over the past few months and years for criticising the plight of the country.

The judiciary, he said, has a key role in justice “protecting people’s rights and freedoms”, yet it was one of the main reasons for the present public discontent felt in Iran. At the turn of the year, demonstrations, largely sparked by economic discontent, spread across the country, with some of the social unrest driven by dissatisfaction at the lack of progress in delivering more civil rights for Iranians and perceptions of state corruption and mismanagement. On February 18, Khamenei offered a rare apology to citizens on behalf of the Islamic Republic as he dwelt on issues that may have caused the protests. He conceded that officials needed to work harder at establishing justice.

Ahmadinejad has become increasingly vocal against the Iran’s ruling clerics while his chosen protégé, Hamid Baqaee, has been thrust through several court cases closed to the public. He has called on people to press their parliamentary representatives to demand change.

However, the former president is not well regarded by many in Iran, despite the mass working-class appeal that saw him win his first presidential term by a landslide. Doubts continue to hang over his handling of the 2009 election fallout, widely believed to have been rigged by his followers. Khamenei backed Ahmadinejad after his re-election sparked protests in which dozens of people were killed and hundreds arreste. Security forces led by the elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps stamped out the unrest.

The pair fell out in 2011 when Khamenei reversed Ahmadinejad’s dismissal of the intelligence minister, suggesting he had overstepped his presidential authority.