Time.news – Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the only true reformist candidate admitted by the Guardian Council to presidential elections on Friday in Iran, has decided to withdraw at the last minute from the electoral race. This was reported by the Iranian agencies, reporting that Mehralizadeh communicated his decision with a letter to the Ministry of the Interior.
The former governor of the province of Isfahan was the only reformist in the running
Sixty-four years, a former governor of the province of Isfahan, Mehralizadeh was the only reformist in the running. However, he was running as an independent: his name had not been included in the list of the Reformist Front, the coalition of about 27 parties and groups whose aspiring presidents have all been disqualified by the Guardian Council, the body controlled by the Supreme Guide that evaluates the suitability of candidates.
The withdrawal of Mehralizadeh makes of Abdolnaser Hemmati, 64, the only non-conservative to run for president. Former governor of the central bank, Hemmati is a moderate technocrat on whom part of the reformists and moderates have focused, in turn crossed by internal divisions and become unpopular due to the association with the current president Hassan Rohani held responsible, in eight years of mandate, of the serious economic crisis in the country.
For the polls Raisi remains the favorite
Hemmati is the only one of the seven candidates to have a strong economic background and has played a lot on this to present himself as the only one capable of saving the country from the collapse; polls give it below 4% while giving it to favorite, the ultraconservative Ebrahim Raisi, a decisive victory with 60% of the votes. Raisi is also considered by many to be the possible successor of Ali Khamenei as Supreme Guide, the highest spiritual and political office of Iran.
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