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2 candidates drop out of Iran presidential election, due to take place Friday amid voter apathy

Two candidates in Iran’s presidential election withdrew from the race as the country prepared Thursday for the upcoming vote, an effort by hard-liners to coalesce around a unity candidate in the polls to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi. Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported late Wednesday night. Ghazizadeh Hashemi served as one of Raisi’s vice presidents and as the head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. He ran in the 2021 presidential election and received some 1 million votes, coming in last place. On Thursday, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani also withdrew, as he did previously in the 2021 election in which Raisi was voted into office.

Quick Read

  • Two Candidates Withdraw: Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi and Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani drop out of Iran’s presidential race.
  • Ghazizadeh Hashemi’s Withdrawal: Urged unity among hard-liners; previously served as vice president under Ebrahim Raisi.
  • Zakani’s Withdrawal: Aimed to prevent reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian from winning; supported by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
  • Remaining Candidates: Four candidates left, with analysts predicting a three-way contest among Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, and Masoud Pezeshkian.
  • Supreme Leader’s Stance: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calls for maximum voter turnout and warns reformists about U.S. reliance.
  • Voter Apathy: Low enthusiasm due to economic hardships and recent helicopter crash killing President Raisi.
  • Public Sentiment: Many Iranians, disillusioned by unmet promises, plan to abstain from voting.
  • Support for Hard-liners: Some conservative voters express support for Qalibaf and Jalili, viewing voting as a duty.

The Associated Press has the story:

2 candidates drop out of Iran presidential election, due to take place Friday amid voter apathy

Newslooks- DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) —

Two candidates in Iran’s presidential election withdrew from the race as the country prepared Thursday for the upcoming vote, an effort by hard-liners to coalesce around a unity candidate in the polls to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi.

Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened,” the state-run IRNA news agency reported late Wednesday night.

In this picture made available by Iranian state-run TV, IRIB, presidential candidate for the June 28 election Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, Vice President of late Ebrahim Raisi, speaks in a debate of the candidates at the TV studio in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 25, 2024. (Morteza Fakhri Nezhad/IRIB via AP)

Ghazizadeh Hashemi served as one of Raisi’s vice presidents and as the head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs. He ran in the 2021 presidential election and received some 1 million votes, coming in last place.

On Thursday, Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani also withdrew, as he did previously in the 2021 election in which Raisi was voted into office.

Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani, a candidate for the June 28 presidential election, speaks, during his campaign rally in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Zakani said he withdrew to “block the formation of a third administration” of former President Hassan Rouhani, a reference to reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian is running with the support of former Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who under Rouhani reached the 2015 nuclear deal with world powers.

Such withdrawals are common in the final hours of an Iranian presidential election, particularly in the last 24 hours before the vote is held when campaigns enter a mandatory quiet period without rallies. Voters go to the polls Friday.

The two withdrawals leave four other candidates still in the race. Analysts broadly see the race as a three-way contest.

A supporter of Saeed Jalili, a candidate for the June 28, presidential election, holds up his poster during a campaign gathering in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Jalili, a hardline candidate and former nuclear negotiator, said in a debate on Monday: “We should make the enemy regretful from sanctioning Iran through economic means.” (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Two hard-liners, former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, are fighting over the same bloc, experts say. Then there’s Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon who has sought to associate himself with Rouhani and other reformist figures like former President Mohammad Khatami and those who led the 2009 Green Movement protest.

Iran’s theocracy under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has maintained its stance of not approving women or anyone urging radical change to the country’s government for the ballot. However, Khamenei in recent days has called for a “maximum” turnout in the vote, while also issuing a veiling warning to Pezeshkian and his allies about relying on the United States.

Widespread public apathy has descended in the Iranian capital over the election, coming after a May helicopter crash that killed Raisi.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the most prominent hard-line candidate for the June 28 presidential election, speaks in his campaign gathering in Tehran, Iran, Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Qalibaf along with five other candidates is competing in the election to replace the late President Ebrahim Raisi who died in a helicopter crash with seven other officials in May. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

After the promise nearly a decade ago of Tehran’s nuclear deal opening up Iran to the rest of the world, Iranians broadly face crushing economic conditions and a far more uncertain Middle East that already has seen the Islamic Republic directly attack Israel for the first time. Iran also now enriches uranium at nearly weapons-grade levels and has enough of it to produce several nuclear weapons if it choses.

The limited options in the election, as well as widespread discontent over Iran’s ongoing crackdown on women over the mandatory headscarf, has some saying they won’t vote.

“I did not watch any of the debates since I have no plan to vote,” said Fatemeh Jazayeri, a 27-year-old unemployed woman with a master’s degree. “I voted for Rouhani seven years ago, but he failed to deliver his promises for a better economy. Any promise by any candidates will remain on paper only.”

Worshippers in Tehran at Friday prayers in recent weeks, typically more conservative than others in the city, appeared more willing to vote.

Reformist candidate for Iran’s June 28, presidential election Masoud Pezeshkian flashes the victory sign in his campaign rally in Tehran, Iran, Sunday, June 23, 2024. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

Mahmoud Seyedi, a 46-year-old shopkeeper, said he and his wife, alongside two young daughters, will vote,

“My wife and I have decided to vote for Qalibaf since he knows how to solve problems of the country because years of experience but my daughters are thinking about Jalili, too,” he said. “By the way, voting is a duty for us.”

Parivash Emami, 49, another at prayers, said she hoped his vote could help Iran overcome its problems.

“Qalibaf knows details of problems, the rest are either critics or promise to solve problems without offering any program,” Emami said.

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