Iran election: May 19 may bring unexpected surprise - COMMENT

Baku. 18 May. REPORT.AZ/ Today is a day of campaign silence before voting in Iranian presidential elections on May 19.

Report informs referring to Iranian sources, four candidates - current president Hassan Rouhani, former minister of physical culture Mostafa Hashemitaba, current head of Imam Reza Foundation Ebrahim Raisi, former minister of culture and Islamic guidance Mostafa Mirsalim – take part in this political campaign.

Notably, on May 19 Iran will hold its 12th presidential elections. With exception of first two, all presidents or heads of government were elected for two terms.

However, Rouhani has better chances to become the next president. First of all, he was loyal to supreme leader or managed to behave this way.

Hassan Rouhani was born on November 12, 1948 in Sorkheh city of Semnan province in northern Iran. He received his first religious education in Qom. In 1972 he obtained bachelor degree in Judicial Law from University of Tehran. In 1995 he was graduated from Glasgoü Caledonian University in Scotland with master degree in Law with his thesis entitled "The Islamic legislative power with reference to the Iranian experience". He speaks Russian, Arabic, French, German and English languages.

He represents reformist wing of the government. On the other hand, he may also be considered as a common representative of both reformists and conservatives in the government. In other words, Khamenei blessed him in 2013. He hadn’t any noteworthy controversy with the supreme leader during last 4 years.

Let’s also note that Hassan Rouhani for a long time acted as a secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council. In his adolescence he was among youth close to the leader of the revolution Ruhollah Khomeini.

It is not excluded that he will be re-elected, since his former and current activities are recognized and accepted by international powers. Moreover, there are more than 20 million military servicemen and public servants in Iran. As a rule, this electoral group makes the result of elections. In other words, they vote for the candidate supported by the government. That’s why usually the election results are in favor of candidate who will satisfy interests of the regime.

Notably, overall number of voters in Iran is slightly above 56 million.

Actually, the problem is solved at registration stage. The government registers only those candidates, who will not cause problems for the government.

From this point of view, Hassan Rouhani is considered a most reliable and proven candidate.

There are five other harmless candidates registered to demonstrate legitimacy and democraticness of the election process.

Two of them - Mayor of Tehran Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Eshaq Jahangiri withdrew from presidential race to support Ebrahim Raisi and Hassan Rouhani respectively.

Iranian cleric and head of the Imam Reza charitable foundation Ebrahim Raisi is one of the few members of the Committee that made government of Ayatollah Khomeini to punish opposition members. He seemed as a new figure for the international community. E. Raisi is main candidate of the conservative line of the government.

Supporter of hardline and former member of the committee spoke about USA: “Americans are afraid of Iran.
This is as it should be. We must not give up. They should be forced to retreat”.

After becoming a presidential candidate, he said that, with the exception of Israel, he is in favor of keeping in touch with all countries.For his activities in the past he seemed to be a tougher candidate for both reformers and society.

In other words, I. Raisi can be presented as alternative means of pressure to support representative of reformers.

E. Raisi was born, inMashhad's Noqan neighborhood, in a religious family on December 14, 1960. His father died when he was 5 years old. At the age of 15, he entered a religious school in Qom. He graduated with a Ph.D. in jurisprudence and fundamentals of Islamic law from the Shahid Motahari University.

Iran's new president may be a surprise. Notably, once Islamic Republic had made surprise in presidential election in 2005. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad not known in the international political arena became the President.

Mostafa Hashemi-Taba is one of Iran's reformist politicians. He was born on May 22, 1946 in Isfahan.

He graduated from the Amirkabir University of Technology. Hashemitaba served as Iran's minister of industries and vice president, as well as head of the National Olympic Committee of Iran. Hashemitaba is co-founder of the Executives of Construction Party and former member of its central committee. In 2001 he ran for the presidency. Mostafa Hashemitaba worked in a number of state bodies.

From 1981 to 1989, Mir-Salim was the advisor to then president Ayatollah Khamenei.

Mir-Salim served Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance in 1993-1997. He is a member of Islamic Republican Party.

He was born on June 9, 1947 in Tehran. He is believed to have relations with both conservative and reformers. This shows he is not a very serious figure in politics. The most unusual thing in his personal life is his wife is French.

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said that he will announce election results himself at once but not partly.

Thus, it looks like the main struggle in Iran is between Hassan Rouhani and Ebrahim Raisi.