Two candidates who advocate the hard line, refused to participate in the presidential elections in Iran, state media reported today - on the eve of the vote, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
The election came after President Ebrahim Raisi died in a helicopter crash last month.
The mayor of Tehran, Alireza Sakani, and the head of the Martyrs and Veterans Foundation, Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, have withdrawn from the race, Iranian state media reported today. The two were expected to get just 1.7% and 2% of the vote respectively, according to a June 22-23 public opinion poll.
The two urged voters to vote for candidates supporting the Islamic Revolution.
After their withdrawal, four presidential candidates remained. Sakani specifically called on the two most prominent hardliners to join forces to prevent the moderate Massoud Pezeshkian from winning.
"I call on Said Jalili and Mohammed Bagher Ghalibaf to unite and not leave the demands of the revolutionary forces unanswered," Sakani wrote in "X".
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, now 85, has ensured that candidates who share his hardline views will dominate the presidential race, Reuters notes.
Massoud Pezeshkian, a former health minister, has the support of Iran's political reformist camp, which advocates a policy of rapprochement with the West, but his chances are unclear as dissidents inside and outside Iran call for a boycott at the elections.
About 61 million voters are called to choose Raisi's successor, DPA notes. The Guardian Council, an ultra-conservative watchdog, approved only six candidates to run. In the hardliner camp, there is a power struggle between Saeed Jalili, a former negotiator on Iran's nuclear program, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf.