Iran, seats open for the presidential elections: Khamenei votes in Tehran

by time news

Seats open in Iran for the presidential elections. More than 59 million voters are called to the polls to decide what happens after Rohani. The Supreme Guide, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, voted first in Tehran in a seat set up in the Imam Khomeini mosque, as reported by the Mehr agency. Voting began at 7 am local time (4.30 am in Italy).


Ebrahim Raisi – head of the judiciary, ‘champion’ of the conservatives – is considered the favorite after the rejection by the Guardian Council of the nominations of big names such as former president of Parliament Ali Larijani and vice president Eshaq Jahangiri and after the withdrawal of the only admitted reformist candidate Mohsen Mehralizadeh.

In the 2017 presidential elections, 73% of Iranians voted. The latest polls estimate this time a turnout of just over 40%. Today the Iranians also vote for the administrative and to choose six new members of the Assembly of Experts, the body that indicates the Supreme Leader, and six parliamentarians.

“Every vote counts”. Ayatollah Khamenei said this, according to the BBC. “Go vote and choose your president,” he added, repeating his call for Iranians to participate in the electoral process, which is important for the “future” of the country.

“The reason why the Iranian people have been repeatedly invited to participate in the vote is that, firstly, it is good for the people and, secondly, it brings great international benefits to the Islamic Republic,” he said. Khamenei in the statements reported by the Mehr agency.

“I will not go to vote. I exposed myself because millions of citizens asked me, but I made it clear that, in case of disqualification, I would not participate. If anyone wants to vote, go ahead. I don’t”. This was stated in an interview with Corriere della Sera by former Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose candidacy for today’s presidential elections in Iran was rejected by the Guardian Council. “I asked them to explain the reason, but they didn’t answer – he said – It’s a political choice”.

According to Ahmadinejad, “Iran’s problem is not American sanctions” because the Islamic Republic is “a country rich in natural and human resources, but Hassan Rohani, my successor, has invested everything in foreign policy”. “Resources that – he insisted – should have remained here”. “We Iranians have never set our sights on the natural resources of the United States or Europe. You do the same. Instead you want energy and sell weapons in exchange,” he continued, adding that “the most lucrative arms contracts are signed in the Middle. Orient”.

And on the international agreement on Iranian nuclear power of 2015 on the negotiating table in Vienna for a revival of the treaty, Ahmadinejad stresses that there have been “negotiations for years”, how “an agreement was signed” which “after a while, became waste paper “because” it wasn’t a fair deal. “We have to wait – he concluded – for the change in American behavior”.

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