Ali-Reza Zakani withdrew from the election after attending the Ali Akbar Shrine in the northern Tehran suburb of Chizar. Zakani said of Raisi “I myself will vote for him and I hope that with his election, fundamental reforms will be made in the country”. The Ministry of Interior later requested that Zakani submit a formal resignation, as otherwise his withdrawal is not considered legal. Candidates must resign in writing to the Ministry of Interior before 7am on Thursday to be removed from the ballot.
Zakani Accuses Azari Jahromi of Hypocrisy
Ali-Reza Zakani took aim at the Minister of Communications, Mohammad-Javad Azari Jahromi, criticising his stance on internet filtering. Zakani mocked Azari Jahromi for being a self-styled “Minister for Freedom” and called the Minister disingenuous for presenting himself as a progressive since he was responsible for the portfolio that enforced internet filtering.
Hemmati Jumps on Zakani Rumours
Upon hearing the false news that Ali-Reza Zakani had resigned from the race, Abdol-Naser Hemmati jumped on the news saying it proved the point he had made throughout the debate: that Zakani – along with Ghazizadeh, Jalili and Rezaei – are “cover candidates” for Raisi. However, once it became apparent that the news was false and Zakani was still a candidate, Hemmati deleted the tweet.
Mottaki Pressures Candidates to Resign for Raisi
Manouchehr Mottaki, spokesman for the Unity Council, one of the main Principalist organisations, has joined the chorus of conservative voices calling for the four conservative candidates (Ghazizadeh, Jalili, Rezaei and Zakani) to stand aside for the consensus candidate, Ebrahim Raisi. Mottaki reminded the candidates of the 2013 election, where the large number of conservative candidates on election day split the conservative vote, resulting in the victory of Moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani. Mottaki did not name any names, but only encourage “the five candidates of the Revolutionary Front” to come together and choose a “consensus”.
Confusion over Zakani Resignation
Reports came in late on Monday night that Ali-Reza Zakani had announced his intention to stand down in favour of Ebrahim Raisi at a rally in Kashan. However, shortly after, a representative from Zakani’s headquarters denied that the candidate had resigned and said Zakani will proceed with his public engagements on Tuesday.
Shariatmadari: Failure to Stand Aside for Raisi is a Sin
Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Kayhan newspaper which is close to the Supreme Leader, today wrote that refusal of four candidates endorsed by the Revolutionary Front in favour of the fifth candidate is a mistake, the consequences of which will be an unforgivable sin. Shariatmadari was referring to the agreement that Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Saeed Jalili, Mohsen Rezaei and Ali-Reza Zakani would have had to have made to be endorsed by the Principalist organisations, that they would stand aside for Ebrahim Raisi before election day so as not to split the conservative vote.
Summary of the Third Debate
The Third Debate was more focused than the previous two, with most of the candidates seeking to be less antagonistic towards each other and more focused on explaining their policies and pointing out the shortcomings of their rivals’ policies At the beginning of the debate, the moderator announced that the seven most important issues nominated by the general public for this debate were housing, employment, unemployment, inflation, justice, subsidies and corruption. Interestingly, neither sanctions nor COVID were raised as top issues by the general public. The debate focused mainly, therefore, on economic issues, particularly inflation, as well as accountability and internet filtering.
Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, who has become a viable candidate in some polls, pointed to his relative youth (as opposed to most of the other candidates) and said that he represented generational change. He said “Dear people of Iran, to entrust the management and solving of today's problems to the very people who created the current situation is like entrusting the treatment of malaria to mosquitoes or the treatment of COVID to the virus itself”.
Ebrahim Raisi seemed much more prepared than in previous debates, and used his non-executive experience to his advantage, pointing to his involvement in building local business while head of the Imam Reza Shrine in Mashhad and emphasising his role in fighting crime and corruption while Chief Justice. Raisi was much more coherent and articulate when taking on his main challenger, former Central Bank governor Abdol-Naser Hemmati, by centring his narrative on the slogan that “banks are a barrier to production”.
After Raisi said that “bank arrears must be repaid”, Hemmati produced a handwritten list of 13 names of those in arrears, to which Raisi said “We had previously published the names of the bank debtors given by Mr Hemmati. If Mr Hemmati had the list of bank super-debtors, why hadn't he handed it over to the judiciary so far? Why did they bring it to us in the debate?” Hemmati responded that the names had been provided to the judiciary and accused them of not acting swiftly before trying to break Raisi’s image of a strong judicial manager by saying “Mr Raisi, the economy is not like a court and a judge”.
Mohsen Rezaei did not perform particularly well, but centred his speeches on imager of Iran needing two major surgeries: for its governance and its economy. When asked how he would fund his centrepiece policy of a monthly 450 thousand toman subsidy, he stumbled, saying “don’t worry where I get the money from, as long as there is not theft, it’s not a problem”
Saeed Jalili asked more rhetorical questions than he gave rhetorical answers, but he developed his narrative around having the most extensive planning, saying “Iran needs a plan - if you want to weave an Iranian rug, you need a comprehensive plan to weave it row by row, knot by knot”.
Abdol-Naser Hemmati placed the responsibilities of Iran’s economic failures on the behaviour of hardliners, who had caused the sanctions which now cost the economy 16 billion annually. In differentiating himself from Raisi, Hemmati said “tell me, what will happen if power falls into the hands of the extremists? I can easily say that more sanctions will be imposed”.
Hemmati also accused the hardliners (meaning all other candidates except for Mehr-Alizadeh) of turning Iran’s neighbours into enemies, naming Saudi Arabia and UAE specifically, of creating alliances that brought no economic benefit to Iran, specifically naming Iraq and China, and sabotaging agreements that benefit Iran, specifically the FATF and JCPOA.
Jalili had said “the signing of conventions, including the FATF, is of no benefit to the country” to which Hemmati retorted “Mr Jalili and North Korea are the only ones saying that the FATF is useless. Does that mean 200 other countries do not understand this? Let the country breathe!”. Raisi said he was supportive of the JCPOA, although the agreement would be better under a “strong government”, a reference to his slogan “a people’s government for a strong Iran”.
Ali-Reza Zakani focused his speeches on what he called the three “n”s of Iran’s failures: not knowing, not wanting, not being able. Zakani also produced a letter which supposedly showed Hemmati as a key supporter of the petrol price rise of 2019, which led to protests which were violently suppressed, which ran contrary to Hemmati’s own claims of opposition to the price rise. Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh took a similar road to Hemmati, saying the problems that Iran faces stem from the fact that everything is politicised: “our economy and our livelihoods suffer because of politicisation”
Mehr-Alizadeh also continued to lobby on ethnic issues, which had been a feature of the second debate in particular, arguing that local languages should be permitted for use in regional universities and the press, posing the question “is there equality between ethnic groups in Iran?” Other candidates avoided the issue, although Rezaei said that his plan for Iran’s development was all inclusive and Ghazizadeh blamed a rise in ethnic dissatisfaction on the decline of family. Mehr-Alizadeh criticised treatment of Sunnis in Iran, particularly the ban on Sunni seminaries and Sunni mosques in places like Tehran. As soon as the debate finished, the most senior Sunni leader in Iran, Molavi Abdol-Hamid, announced his support for Raisi.
Internet filtering became a means of discussing social issues, with Hemmati criticising Raisi’s mention of “safe filtering” saying that “safe filtering means closing Instagram”. Hemmati also tried to bring the discussion of women’s rights on to the agenda in a roundabout way, since it was clear the candidates may have been warned after the last debate. Hemmati asked Raisi if he agreed with the Friday Imam of Mashhad, Ahmad Alam-ol-Hoda (who is also Raisi’s father-in-law), and his views on women. Alam-ol-Hoda’s Instagram account was recently suspended. Raisi said he had not introduced any new filtering while Chief Justice. While Zakani said “Mr Hemmati, why are you talking about filtering? You closed your Instagram comments until yesterday. You do not dare to talk to people”.
Zakani: Promising Women Cabinet Quota is Against Religion and Meritocracy
Ali-Reza Zakani today said he will not make a promise to have a set percentage of women in his cabinet as “promising to appoint a certain number of women as ministers is contrary to religious and meritocratic standards and norms”. Zakani also criticised other candidates for “turning cultural issues into political-security issues” which in his mind amounted to a “great betrayal”.
Tehran Police Chief Responds to Debates
Hossein Rahimi, commander of the Greater Tehran police, criticised candidates for statements they made in the second debate regarding the Guidance Patrol, a morality police who enforce the hijab in public. Rahimi said “it is not possible to play with the Islamic and moral values of the society”, and these issues should not be exploited to collect votes. During the debate, Ebrahim Raisi promised to create a Guidance Patrol to police economic managers, and both Mohsen Mehr-Alizadeh and Ali-Reza Zakani weighed into a discussion about the enforcement of hijab in public.
Summary of the Second Candidates Debate
The second candidates debate took place on Tuesday afternoon.