Iran's presidential race heats up as more hopefuls sign up
Yusef Jalali
Press TV, Tehran
Iran has once again become the scene of political rivalries as the election season kicks off for presidential hopefuls. The registration for the upcoming presidential vote kicked off on Tuesday and will run until Saturday.
Hopefuls need to turn up at the interior ministry to sign up for the race. Among the notable figures who registered their candidacy was former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
While he rose from the principlist camp to win the top executive post in 2005 and 2009, he no longer affiliates himself to a specific political party. He calls himself the savior of the Iranian nation out of the current economic crisis.
Many prominent figures have announced their intention to run for president, some of whom officially signed up for the election. Among them is former defense minister Hossein Dehqan, who currently serves as military advisor to Iran's leader.
Saeed Mohammad is another military official who resigned from his post as the commander of Khatamul Anbiya Construction Base, to register for the race. The majority of the hopefuls vowed to put economic issues on top of their agenda should they win the election.
Current Judiciary Chief Ebrahim Raeisi and former Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani are among the high-profile figures who have implied to run for president. Raeisi is believed to be the spearhead of the principlist camp, where several principalists, including current Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf announce that if Raeisi runs they will step out in his favor.
The race is gradually getting heated as more figures enter the scene from the two major contending camps of the reformists and principalists. Yet it's too soon to draw the lineup for the tough race as this is only the first step, and hopefuls have to wait for the results of the vetting process by the Constitutional Council due on May 27.
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