The registration of presidential candidates for the June election in Iran began today, Tuesday May 7, and will continue until Saturday.
Interior Minister Mostafa Najjar announced that the Guardian Council will decide on the eligibility of candidates during five days of deliberation that begin on May 12.
For the first time, the presidential election will take place at the same time as municipal elections.
The registration of hopefuls for Iran’s 11th presidential election, which is due on June 14, has officially begun. The official registration began on Tuesday morning on the order of the Iranian Interior Ministry. Hopefuls have five days, until May 11, to sign up for the presidential election.
More than 20 political figures from across Iran’s political spectrum have so far announced their intention to run for president, with the majority being from the principlist camp.
Badamchian said Wednesday that the Followers of Imam and Leadership Front has wrapped up its list and is in talks with another principlist group, the Perseverance Front.
On April 22, Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar said 302,165 hopefuls have registered for the fourth council elections.
Hopeful Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi said he and his allies in the Coalition of Five are to make up their minds about their pick in the coming days.
The Coalition of Five brings together former interior minister, Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi; deputy speakers of Iran Majlis, Mohammad Reza Bahonar and Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard; head of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, Yahya Al-e Es’haq; and former foreign minister, Manouchehr Mottaki.
Entekhab website reported today April 30 that former President Mohammad Khatami will not be running in the June presidential elections.
After weeks of speculations on whether the senior reformist figure would run in the elections and repeated endorsements by various progressive organizations, Entekhab website reports that Mohammad Khatami announced today that in view of the many restrictions laid against him by the government, he will not run in the elections.
Just a day after the news that Mohammad Khatami and Hashemi Rafsanjani had met was leaked out, and despite the growing calls for Khatami to run in the June presidential race, the reformist minded former president announced that he was not prepared to accept the presidential candidacy because of pressure and the possible repercussions to his supporters.
Registration for the city council elections across the country ended on Sunday, with thousands of hopefuls registering interest in contesting elections that will be held on the same day as the presidential election on June 14.
Iran's former president reportedly ends speculation, saying he could not foresee rift with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei being bridged.
Hassan Rohani, director of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council, announced on Thursday that he will run in the presidential election set for June 14.
Rohani said that if he wins the vote, he will introduce a plan to “save” the national economy, revive morality, and establish constructive interaction with the world.
Iran’s former nuclear negotiator also said that he will form a “government of wisdom and hope” if he is elected president.
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Presidential candidate Mohammad Shariatmadari has said that candidates should not draw up “revolutionary” plans for their term in office, emphasizing that his plans are within the frameworks of the Islamic system. In an interview with the Mehr News Agency published on Monday, Shariatmadari talked about his presidential plans and also elaborated on his views on other candidates. |
It is time to think the unthinkable. Mahmoud Ahmedinejad's controversial aide, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, has a chance of winning the presidential election in June.
Mostafa Kavakebian, the secretary general of the pro-reform Mardomsalari party (Democracy Party), officially announced that he will run in the presidential election due on June 14.
Kavakebian, a former MP, made the announcement in a news conference in Tehran on Saturday, saying that he has set no condition for his participation in the election, except for the strict implementation of the law.
With all candidates to be vetted by authorities and an opposition boycott on the cards, one of the most important battles in the upcoming Iranian presidential election is likely to be about turnout.
Former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who is a member of the three-strong principlist coalition planning to contest the 2013 presidential election, outlined the coalition’s policies during a press conference in Tehran on Sunday.
Velayati said that the coalition, which also consists of MP Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, had established three specialized working groups.
Manouchehr Mottaki, a former Iranian foreign minister and deputy head of the Followers of the Path of Imam Front, announced on Tuesday February 26 that he will run in the 2013 presidential campaign.
Mottaki had been a foreign minister in the Ahmadinejad administration until he was abruptly dismissed during Ahmadinejad’s second term, even as Mottaki was carrying out a mission in Senegal.
The unprecedented dismissal was later linked to disputes with the president.
The Islamic Revolution Resistance Front has said it will definitely field a candidate for the June presidential election.
Iranian media report that three reformist figures have visited Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader.
The Etemad daily wrote on Monday: “Majid Ansari, a member of the Expediency Council, Abdolvahid Mousavi Lari, who was interior minister in Mohammad Khatami’s reformist government, and Eshagh Jahangiri, who was industry minister in the reformist government, are the three who appear to have gone as reformist representatives” to visit Ayatollah Khamenei.
The Iranian president says if the U.S. “stops aiming a gun at the people of Iran”, he will personally begin talks with that country.
At a ceremony marking the 34th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution of 1979, Iranian media report that AMahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged the change in the statements coming from the U.S. and said there is a possibility that talks could be held in the light of “respect and justice.”
