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Four candidates can stand for presidency, 471 can't

Article published on the 2009-05-20 Latest update 2009-05-21 09:24 TU

A woman ties a green symbolic ribbon for her friend as she holds a picture of Iran's Presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, during a rally in front of the Tehran Governor's office(Photo: Reuters)

A woman ties a green symbolic ribbon for her friend as she holds a picture of Iran's Presidential candidate Mirhossein Mousavi, during a rally in front of the Tehran Governor's office
(Photo: Reuters)

Iran's top electoral body, the Guardians Council, has authorised four candidates to stand in the 12 June presidential election. They include current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and three opponents.

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A total of 475 Iranians registered as prospective candidates, 433 of them men and 42 women. The Guardians Council, which is made up six clerics selected by the Supreme Leader and six jurists proposed by the top judge, turned 471 of them down, including all the women.

Those allowed to stand are:

  • Current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, an Islamic conservative who will defend economic policies that are accused of being inflationary;
  • Former Prime Minister Mir Hossein Mousavi, who claims to be a reformist who "refers to the principles" of the 1979 Islamic revolution and is seen as Amhadinejad's principle opponent;
  • Ex-Parliament Speaker Mehdi Karroubi, who promises moderate reform without confrontation with hardliners;
  • Former Revolutionary Guards chief Mohsen Rezai, who has promised to tackle poverty, high prices and unemployment.

Mousavi on Wednesday protested to top officials about what he claims is bias in the campaign so far.

"Repeated and open breaches of neutrality [by state television] ... is fundamentally against the idea of free, responsible and aware choice," Mousavi said in a letter to parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, judiciary chief Ayatollah Mahmoud Hashemi Shahroudi and Attorney General Ghorban Ali Dorri Najafabadi.

"The quality and quantity of information given by national television is lower than in previous elections. Thus it causes doubts that this election is supposed to be a serious and equal competition among the candidates."

In the 2005 presidential election, which saw Ahmadinejad elected, eight out of 1,014 potential candidates were allowed to stand.

The constitution says that candidates should have a political and religious background, hold Iranian citizenship, be Muslims and believe in the principles of the Islamic republic.

Campaigning ends on 10 June and officials say that 46.2 million people are eligible to vote.

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