TEHRAN: A conservative hopeful for Iran’s presidential elections pulled out of the race yesterday, but did not endorse any of the four other conservatives standing in the vote.
Ex-parliamentary speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, seen close to supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was not considered a front runner for the June 14 election.
“I announce my withdrawal from the presidential race to help promote the conservative victory,” Haddad Adel said in a statement carried by local media.
“I hope that the conservatives win in the first round, but if it goes to the second round, the competition will be between two conservatives,” he added.
Haddad Adel had entered the race as part of a coalition along with Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and ex-foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.
In addition to the conservatives, the poll on Friday will also include two moderate candidates and a reformist.
AFP
