Iranian religious leader calls for massive election turnout
By Sara Rajabova
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has called on Iranians to turn out massively in the June 14 presidential election in a bid to deal a blow to Iran's enemies.
Khamenei said in a speech on May 15 that the Iranians should vote for a pious and revolutionary presidential candidate.
"In short, the main criterion should be this: those whose efforts are directed at preserving the dignity of the country and its march towards the realization of the goals of the revolution," he said.
Khamenei also called on the top overseeing body, the Guardian Council, to examine presidential candidates for their qualifications based on the body's constitutional responsibility.
The registration of candidates started on May 7 and will end on May 11.
Previously it was reported that from May 12-16, the Guardian Council will look into each candidate and determine whether a candidate is eligible to stand in the elections.
However, recently it has extended the time given for studying the presidential candidates' registrations.
Spokesman of the Council, Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, said that the Council has sent a letter to the Interior Ministry, noting that it would require 5 more days to study the registrations.
He noted that the Council will unveil the final list of the qualified presidential hopefuls on May 21.
After the candidates have been determined, the pre-election campaigns will begin on May 24, and end on June 12.
A total of 686 individuals have signed up for the presidential race, a record number of candidates registered in the Iranian elections. The youngest candidate is 19, while the oldest one is 87. Besides, this year 30 women have signed up to run for president.
The candidates will be vetted by the Guardian Council, which is a 12-member body consisting of six jurists and six theologians, who in addition to vetting hopefuls are tasked with confirming the election results.
Meanwhile, after the completion of the registration some candidates pulled out of the presidential race.
First Vice President Mohammad Reza Rahimi and Agriculture Minister Sadeq Khalilian are among the half a dozen candidates who have officially withdrawn their bids for presidency.
Also, some of the candidates said that they may withdraw from the election in favor of the other candidates.
However, though hundreds of candidates have signed up to run in the election, only around a dozen are considered as leading contenders.
Politicians from the country's major rival camps have entered the race and the battle will be between conservative "principlists", reformists, independents and government affiliates who are known as members of the "deviant movement".
The popular candidates are former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, Iran's chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, who is seen as the supreme leader's favorite candidate, and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's close ally, Esfandiar Rahim-Mashaei.
Other figures who have put their names forward include Tehran's mayor, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, a conservative, who has formed a coalition with two politicians with similar allegiances, the former parliamentary speaker Gholamali Haddad Adel and Khamenei's top adviser, Ali Akbar Velayati.
Mohsen Rezaee, a former commander in the Revolutionary Guards, is also running. Besides, Iranian former Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast, former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, the former secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, Hassan Rohani, and others have joined the election race.
These politicians, however, are not officially candidates until the Guardian Council confirms their candidacy.