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Iran: Three-way Battle for Presidency

Iran: Three-way Battle for Presidency
folder_openRegional News access_time10 years ago
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Hassan Haidar - Tehran

Every possible political party has nominated its candidates for the Iranian Presidential elections due June 14, 2013. 900 record-breaking candidates were nominated this round in the preliminary stage of the Iranian presidential elections.


Iran: Three-way Battle for PresidencyThe largest share of nominations, however, went to the reservists. Prominent names were evident during this political event, such as the advisor on International Affairs to the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ali Akbar Velayati, the Former Chairman of the Iranian Parliament Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, and Tehran's Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf.

These names formed a tripartite coalition, in which one will be nominated for the advanced stage of the presidential elections after a poll will be conducted to see who the politically strongest man is. The rest then would either support him or withdraw for his sake.
Likewise, the "quinary coalition" nominated the current MP Mohammad Hassan Abu Torabi-Fard, the former Foreign Minister Manushar Mutaki, and MP Ali Reza Zakani - which also adopts the tripartite coalition; choosing a single candidate and supporting him.

However, al-Somoud Front, who had circulated the Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili's name as a candidate at first, then chose the former Health Minister Kamran Bagheri Lankarani. But Jalili's surprising nomination in the presidential race reshuffled cards not only inside al-Somoud Front, but among reservists as well, where all nominations expressed support for one candidate so votes would not be dispersed. These reservist parties would then receive their shares in the next government for supporting one candidate.

Reformists, on the other hand, only nominated Mohammad Reza Aref, the number one MP of former president Mohammad Khatami, former MP Mostafa Kavakebian, as well as former Trade Minister Mohammad Kazem Shariatmadari and reformist MP Masoud Bazakshian. Figures close to the reformist movement also engaged in the presidential race, including Sheikh Hassan Rouhani who is a former senior negotiator on the Iranian nuclear file.

This weak reformist presence was strengthened in the last minute as Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani - chairman of the Expediency Discernment Council of Iran - declared his nomination, which indicates a reformist alignment with the Sheikh, especially considering that both parties shared disagreements with the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Now, the battle has become an open one with Rafsanjani's presence, in which many reformists declared their withdrawal for Rafsanjani.

On a parallel note, what is known in Iran as "President Ahmadinejad's Bloc" nominated a number of mostly-controversial names, chiefly Ahmadinejad's Office Director Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, who is strongly criticized by reservists and religious figures because of some stances some consider contradictory to the country's norms.
As for the other candidate who declared he would be continuing President Ahmadinejad's path once in office, is the presidential advisor for press affairs Ali Akbar Javanfek, who was imprisoned six months because of an article he wrote that was seen as offensive to the Islamic system.

Also, Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and a number of current ministers who declared their readiness to withdraw for Mashaei were nominated for the presidential elections.
On another note, independent nominations were tinted with a reservist inclination, chiefly the former Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps chief commander Mohsen Rezaee, and the President's brother Daoud Ahmadinejad - who opposes his brother's policies - as well as the Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Ramin Mehman-Parast.

These names showed a somewhat political electoral alignment and the three-way battle between reservists, Ahmadinejad's bloc, and Sheikh Rafsanjani's movement, in which reformists found their salvation from political drowning. This was due to the complete failure they witnessed when some boycotted elections and did not simulate the public opinion with their reforms.

All facts point to surprises in the upcoming Iranian elections next month. The 11th Presidential race has begun and nominations complete and to be passed on to the watchdog Guardian Council of the Constitution, which determines who will qualify to run for the 7th Islamic Republic of Iran Presidency.

Source: al-Ahed News, Translated and Edited by moqawama.org

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