International Desk, Bangladesh Global: The presidential elections in Iran will be held on Friday (June 28) following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash on May 19.
Two hardline candidates dropped out of Iran's presidential election on Thursday, a day ahead of the landmark vote, and called for unity among forces supporting the country's Islamic revolution, state media reported.
Iranian's tightly controlled election on Friday follows Ebrahim Raisi's death in a helicopter crash last month, with the outcome expected to influence the succession to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the top decision-maker in the clerically-ruled state, reports Reuters.
Tehran's mayor Alireza Zakani and head of the Martyrs' Foundation Amirhossein Ghazizadeh-Hashemi exited the race, state media said.
They were expected to win just 1.7 per cent and 2 per cent of votes respectively according to a 22-23 June poll carried out by the Iran Students Polling Centre.
Their departure leaves four presidential candidates and Zakani urged the two most prominent hardline ones to join forces to prevent moderate Masoud Pezeshkian from winning.
"I call upon Saeed Jalili and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf to unite and not leave the demands of the revolutionary forces unanswered," Zakani wrote on X, referring to the former nuclear negotiator and his hardline rival, parliament speaker and former head of the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
Khamenei, now 85, has ensured candidates sharing his hardline views dominate the presidential contest. Iran's president is traditionally closely involved in the process of choosing the supreme leader.
The elections are taking place at a sensitive time. Tensions with Israel are escalating over the Gaza conflict, the West is pressuring Tehran to scale back its nuclear plans, and domestic dissent is growing over political, social, and economic crises.
Pezeshkian, a former health minister, has the endorsement of Iran's politically-sidelined reformist camp that advocates detente with the West, but his chances are unclear, with dissidents in and outside Iran calling for an election boycott.
Al Jazeera reports, out of 80 people who submitted candidacies, six were approved by the Guardian Council, a constitutional vetting body, and out of them, the following remain..
Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the conservative incumbent parliament speaker, used to be mayor of Tehran, police chief, and commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Saeed Jalili, the hardline senior member of the Supreme National Security Council, wants the presidency after numerous failed attempts, just like Ghalibaf.
Masoud Pezeshkian, the only moderate candidate allowed to run, is a former health minister and longtime lawmaker who has secured backing from former presidents and other senior centrist and reformist figures.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, a former interior and justice minister, is a conservative Muslim scholar from the security apparatus. He is not considered an ally by the other conservatives due to some of his views and has said he knows he has few votes.
Since no candidate has a clear majority, a run-off scheduled for July 5 appears certain – unless either Jalili or Ghalibaf withdraw in the other’s favour.
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