Hojjatoleslam Abbas Nabavi, the director of the Institute for Islamic Civilisation and Development, announced he will run for president. In a press conference, Nabavi presented himself as a moderate candidate, stating that since 1997 politics had been polarised between Principalists and Reformists, and he offered a neutral way forward.
Hardline conservative politician and deputy speaker of the Parliament, Amir Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, today announced he would nominate to run for President. In his announcement, Ghazizadeh stated that he had a plan for fixing the country’s woes, and he took aim at the Reformists, stating that their past behaviour meant that people were unlikely to vote for them
Ebrahim Raisi, seen as one of the most popular potential candidate and a favourite for the Principalist faction, has once again ruled out running for President. When asked if he would register, he stated that “I don’t think of anything other than the Judiciary”, in reference to his current position. As with another favourite Mohammad-Javad Zarif, Raisi has repeatedly denied he intends to run, but is still likely to change his mind.
Faezeh Hashemi, one of the only women to declare intention to run, declared in an interview that she would prefer to debate the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei on domestic politics, as opposed to other potential candidates. In the same interview, she also questioned the democratic intentions of both the Reformists and Principalists, and criticised the harassment of women by the Ansar-e Hezbollah group.
A new poll suggests that voters will pick a Principalist or other conservative candidate in this June’s election, while upwards to 70% of Iranians are dissatisfied with the government of Hassan Rouhani. The results of the poll were published in a conservative paper, Fars, which was ambiguous on its source.