Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani calls for greater “competition” in an election for his successor next month after several hopefuls were barred from running against ultraconservative candidates.
Rouhani says he has asked the Islamic Republic’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to intervene and warns that “the heart of elections is competition. If you take that away it becomes a corpse.”
Iran’s ultraconservative judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi is now widely seen as the frontrunner to replace Rouhani, a moderate, after the powerful Guardian Council prevented several prominent figures from standing for election.
Iranian Presidency, President Hassan Rouhani speaks in a cabinet meeting in Tehran, Iran, April 14, 2021. (Iranian Presidency Office via AP)
Seven candidates, five of them ultraconservatives, were approved for the June 18 poll, which comes at a time Iran is in talks with world powers to revive the tattered nuclear deal that former US president Donald Trump withdrew from in 2018.
The Guardian Council disqualified several well-known figures, including long-time parliament speaker Ali Larijani, a moderate-conservative ally of Rouhani who had been seen as the main challenger to Raisi.
Your next read: ToI Editors' Picks
LIMITED TIME OFFER: Join The Times of Israel Community today and you'll receive a physical book of your choice, carefully curated by our editors.
Choose between two must-reads: When We See You Again by Rachel Goldberg-Polin, a searing portrait of a mother’s grief and strength following unthinkable tragedy;
Or Out of the Sky: Heroism and Rebirth in Nazi Europe by Matti Friedman, the gripping and surprising tale of a forgotten moment during World War II.
As a Community member, you’ll also enjoy our DocuNation series of outstanding Israeli documentary films, an ad-free experience of our site and podcasts, commenting privileges, and more.
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you, David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
From the Liveblog of
Wednesday, May 26, 2021
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
