Azernews.Az

Iranian presidential candidate, principlist Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel has announced his withdrawal from the presidetial race, IRNA news agency reported.

Haddad-Adel advised people to closely follow up the guidelines of the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and vote for those candidates who stick to the values of the Islamic Revolution and aspirations of the late Imam Khomeini.

He said that he is still supporting other principlists, and the winning of principlists during the upcoming elections is his goal.

Haddad-Adel is a member of the principlist Coalition of Three, along with Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and the senior advisor to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ali Akbar Velayati.

Ghalibaf and Velayati earlier promised to withdraw their candidacies from the election race to support one candidate who would be approved by the Society of Seminary Teachers of Qom.

"Having several candidates from principlist camp would weaken their chances against reformists during the election race, so I've decided to withdraw my candidacy from the election, and support other principlist candidates," Haddad-Adel said.

Thus, there are seven presidential candidates remaining: Secretary of Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili, former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Velayati, Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, President of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council Hassan Rohani, former First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi.

Iran will hold the 11th presidential election on June 14.

The voters will select the successor of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is not able to participate in the elections for the third term according to the country's constitutional laws.

The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election.