Two candidates from Iran’s presidential election have withdrawn their candidacies as the country prepares to vote, in an attempt by hardliners to unite behind a single candidate.
Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, abandoned his candidacy and called on other candidates to do the same “to strengthen the front of the revolution,” state news agency IRNA reported.
This Thursday, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani also withdrew his candidacy, as happened in the 2021 elections in which Raisi was elected president.
Iran will hold presidential elections on Friday following the death of head of state Ibrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May.
Ghazizadeh Hashemi was one of Raisi’s vice-presidents, ran the Foundation for Martyrs and Veterans Affairs, and ran in the 2021 presidential election, finishing last with one million votes.
Zakani said he left the party to “block the formation of a third administration” by former President Hassan Rouhani, referring to Masoud Pezeshkian, a reformist candidate.
Pezeshkian is running with the support of former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who led Rouhani to negotiate the 2015 nuclear deal with international powers.
Such withdrawals are common in the final hours before Iran’s presidential elections, especially on the final day before voting when campaigns enter a mandatory shutdown period with no rallies or public political events.
Two withdrawals leave four candidates remaining in the race.
Political apathy has spread in the Iranian capital since Raisi’s death, according to the Associated Press.
After promising nearly a decade ago that Tehran’s nuclear deal would open Iran to the rest of the world, Iranians face dire economic conditions and the situation in the region is “uncertain” as the Islamic Republic directly attacks Israel for the first time. .
Iran is also enriching uranium to near military levels and has enough uranium to produce several types of nuclear weapons, according to the US.
Author: Lusa
Source: CM Jornal
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