DUBAI: An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined the presidential race yesterday, with powerful conservatives keen to make the June vote a peaceful contrast to the upheaval that followed the disputed 2009 poll.
Khamenei has the final say on all matters in Iran and in theory stands above the political fray, but it is thought he wants a reliable follower in the presidency after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s two turbulent terms in office.
Reformist groups have been suppressed or sidelined since 2009 and the next president is likely to be picked from among a handful of politicians known for fealty to Khamenei, minimising the chances of political rifts leading to post-election chaos.
Former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel registered to run, state news agency Irna reported, becoming the first of a trio of Khamenei loyalists expected to do so. Allied with Haddad-Adel are former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf — Iranian media say two of them will step aside later in favour of whoever appears to have the best chance of winning the election. “Our final choice will be announced after the Guardian Council’s decision,” the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Haddad-Adel as saying after registering, referring to a body which vets applicants before they are allowed to run. The conservative council, normally made up of six clerics and six jurists, will publish the final list of candidates it has approved later this month.
The June 14 vote is a test for Iran after Ahmadinejad’s re-election in 2009 ignited the biggest street protests in the Islamic Republic’s history, badly denting the legitimacy of its entrenched leaders and its hybrid clerical-electoral system.
But there is little of the popular enthusiasm there was in the run-up to the 2009 election when many sensed there was a possibility of change. After years of ever tougher international sanctions over the nuclear programme, many Iranians care more about the economy than political infighting.Reuters
