Moscow: Seven candidates have been approved for participation in the presidential election in Iran, set for next month, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, a spokesman of the Guardian Council, the country’s election watchdog, said.
“Only seven [out of some 590] candidates were qualified to participate in the presidential election,” Kadkhodaei said on Tuesday.
The spokesman did not name those selected by the Guardian Council. Meanwhile, the Iran International television station said citing the official list published on Tuesday that three key contenders were missing from the line-up: former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, former parliament speaker Ali Larijani and vice president Es’haq Jahangiri.
Earlier this month, Iranian media reported that Larijani and judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi had signed up to run for the Iranian presidency and their simultaneous enrollment suggested a possible split in the votes similar to the 2017 election, when Raisi lost because another Principlist candidate, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, ran against him.
The Iranian presidential election is scheduled to take place on June 18. Electoral authorities estimate the number of eligible Iranian voters at 59 million, but a poll conducted earlier in May showed that only 27 percent of eligible voters were likely to cast their ballots.(Sputnik)
Iran’s election watchdog approves seven candidates for upcoming Presidential vote
