Iran approves hardliner for presidential polls, bars several hopefuls

Story by Reuters

Updated 9:18 AM ET, Tue May 25, 2021

Iran’s election watchdog has approved the candidacy of hardline judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi in next month’s presidential election, state television reported on Tuesday, while disqualifying some of his main rivals including former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

The move is likely to boost the prospects of Raisi, a close ally of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. But it may further dent the clerical rulers’ hopes of a high turnout in the June 18 vote, amid rising discontent over an economy crippled by US sanctions.
As well as Ahmadinejad, the hardline-led Guardian Council barred former parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a moderate conservative, and pragmatist First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri, an ally of outgoing president Hassan Rouhani.
Rouhani and his moderate allies have blamed most of Iran’s economic woes on US sanctions and given top priority to talks aimed at reviving Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which former US President Donald Trump quit.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/25/middleeast/iran-election-raisi-intl/index.html
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