Rafsanjani's last-minute entry transforms Iranian race

Khamenei adviser enters Iran's presidential contest Source: Reuters - Fri, 10 May 2013 09:10 AM Author: Reuters DUBAI, May 10 (Reuters) - An adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei joined the presidential race on Friday, with authorities keen to make the June vote a peaceful contrast to the upheaval that followed the disputed 2009 poll. Reformist groups have been suppressed or sidelined since then and the next president is likely to be picked from among a handful of politicians known for fealty to Khamenei, minimising the chances of political rifts leading to post-election chaos. Lawmaker and former parliament speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel registered to run, state news agency IRNA reported, becoming the first of a trio of Khamenei loyalists to do so. Khamenei, who in theory stands above the political fray, is thought to want a reliable follower in the presidency after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's two turbulent terms - and to thwart any attempt by the outgoing president to promote his own successor. Allied with Haddad-Adel are former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati and Tehran mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf - Iranian media say two of them will step aside later in favour of whoever appears to have the best chance of winning the election. "Our final choice will be announced after the Guardian Council's decision," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Haddad-Adel as saying after registering, referring to a body which vets applicants before they are allowed to run. The conservative council, made up of six clerics and six jurists, will publish the final candidate list later this month. The June 14 vote is a test for Iran after Ahmadinejad's re-election in 2009 ignited the worst street protests in the Islamic Republic's history, badly denting the legitimacy of its entrenched leaders and its hybrid clerical-electoral system. Khamenei, who has the final say in all major state affairs, endorsed Ahmadinejad's victory, rejecting opposition charges of election fraud. But the president later alienated the supreme leader by pursuing his own policies in often provocative ways. Among other candidates who registered on Friday was reformist Mohammad Reza Aref, who served as vice-president under former moderate President Mohammad Khatami. Khatami, who was elected in landslide victories in 1997 and 2001, has not made clear whether he will run this time. Candidate registration started on Tuesday and ends on Saturday. (Reporting by Zahra Hosseinian; Editing by Alistair Lyon) Sat, May 11 13:02 PM EDT By Yeganeh Torbati and Marcus George DUBAI (Reuters) - Former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani threw himself into Iran's election race on Saturday as a flurry of heavyweight candidates rushed to beat the registration deadline in the most unpredictable contest for decades. Iranian media reported that Rafsanjani - a relative moderate - had registered for the June 14 presidential election with just minutes to spare. His candidacy radically alters what was previously seen as a contest between rival conservative groups. The former president could scupper the hopes of 'Principlists', loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who are aiming to secure a quick and painless transition and paper over the deep fissures between the opposing camps. Rafsanjani, 78, who was president from 1989 to 1997, is expected to draw some support from reformists because he backed the opposition movement whose protests were crushed after the last, disputed election in 2009. The election comes at a critical moment, as Iran reels from international sanctions over its disputed atomic program and faces the threat of attack by Israel if it crosses what the Jewish state calls a 'red line' towards acquiring a nuclear weapon. Tehran strenuously denies it wants an atomic bomb. A vast field of more than 400 candidates have thrown their names into the ring as potential successors to outgoing president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has long been at odds with the supreme leader. NUCLEAR NEGOTIATOR Shortly before Rafsanjani's announcement, Saeed Jalili, a hardline conservative who is seen as close to Khamenei and has led rounds of so far unsuccessful nuclear talks with world powers, entered his name as a candidate. Soon afterwards Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, an aide to Ahmadinejad and a man viewed with intense distrust by conservatives, registered for the race, gripping Ahmadinejad's hand as the two flashed peace signs for photographers. Khamenei's camp sees Mashaie as leading a "deviant current" that seeks to set aside clerical influence in favor of a more nationalistic doctrine. The presidential vote is the first since Ahmadinejad's disputed re-election four years ago, when mass "Green movement" protests erupted after the defeat of reformist candidates Mirhossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karoubi. Dozens were killed in the worst unrest since the 1979 revolution. The outcome of next month's contest will signal the extent of Khamenei's control at the summit of power in the Islamic Republic. It will also show whether he feels the need to reach out to opposition groups and whether the reformists are capable of making a comeback. Proponents of greater social and political freedoms have been suppressed or sidelined: Mousavi, his wife and Karoubi have been under house arrest for over two years. "SO MANY WILD CARDS" After a day of intense speculation about his intentions, the last-minute entry by Rafsanjani was a moment of political drama. Iranian television showed him smiling and waving as he sat in the crowded office where he registered his candidacy. "He knows if he runs he can have both the reformists' vote, and have some of the principlists. Rafsanjani is not the type to put aside power," said Mohammad Hossein Ziya, who campaigned for reformist Karoubi in 2009 and now edits Karoubi's website from the United States. Another reformist ex-president, Mohammad Khatami, endorsed Rafsanjani on Friday. "Rafsanjani is a pillar of the Islamic Revolution, whereas Khatami is a standard bearer of the reform movement," said Yasmin Alem, a U.S.-based expert on Iran's electoral system. "In the 2005 presidential poll, their constituencies competed against each other. But, since then, both have been marginalized and are now playing on the same side. "With so many wild cards now in the game, the fate of the election is now concealed in a smoke screen." The candidacy of Jalili promised to move the nuclear dispute to the forefront of the election campaign, and may also affect the tortuous negotiations between Iran and a six-power group consisting of the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany. "In any scenario, Jalili's candidacy is likely to put nuclear diplomacy on hold for a while," said Ali Vaez, Iran analyst at the International Crisis Group "He can't pursue the nuclear talks and his electoral campaign simultaneously. And if he is elected president, there will be a learning curve for his successor." Jalili is one of a host of Khamenei loyalists to put themselves forward, including charismatic Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati, and Mohsen Rezaie, who headed the Revolutionary Guards and lost to Ahmadinejad in 2009. Ahmadinejad's vice-president Mohammad Reza Rahimi also registered on Saturday. All candidates must be vetted by a conservative body of clerics and jurists known as the Guardian Council, which can disqualify any candidate without offering a justification. It typically narrows the field to just a handful of men. But there appears to be little of the popular enthusiasm that marked the run-up to the 2009 election, when many sensed a possibility of real change. In comments gathered before Saturday's rush of developments, ordinary Iranians said they were more preoccupied with the economy than with political infighting. "I only want to be able to feed and provide for my family. Anyone who can bring down inflation, create more jobs and lower rents will have my vote," said Majid, who works in a publishing company. Clothing designer Sotoudeh, 32, said: "I won't vote at all, no matter who comes. They stole our vote four years ago and I see no point in voting now." (Additional reporting by Zahra Hosseinian, Editing by Mark Trevelyan) ======================================================================== News Iran electoral watchdog hints at Rafsanjani rejection Mon, May 20 08:13 AM EDT By Yeganeh Torbati DUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's electoral watchdog said on Monday it would bar physically feeble candidates from running for president, in an apparent hint that it could disqualify 78-year-old former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race. Rafsanjani, if he is allowed to run, would be a significant challenge to conservative hardliners who are ultra-loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and who otherwise dominate the field for the June 14 presidential election. The wily, pragmatic cleric, who has often been close to the heart of power since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, shook up the election contest earlier this month when he joined the race. But the Guardian Council, a conservative body of clerics and jurists that vets all candidates, may disqualify him, along with Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also registered to run at the last moment.

"If an individual who wants to take up a high post can only perform a few hours of work each day, naturally that person cannot be confirmed," Guardian Council spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said on Monday, according to the ISNA news agency.

Kadkhodai did not name Rafsanjani. The council is due to present a final list of approved candidates on Tuesday to the Interior Ministry, which then has two days to announce it. Hardline legislators demanded last week that Rafsanjani and Mashaie be banned from running. Rafsanjani earned hardliners' ire for criticizing the crackdown on opposition protests after Ahmadinejad was re-elected in 2009 in a vote that reformists said was rigged. Conservatives are suspicious of Mashaie, saying he holds an unorthodox view of Islam and seeks to sideline clerical rule. Lawmaker Ali Motahari, who is close to Rafsanjani, told reporters on Monday that a rejection of Rafsanjani's candidacy would put the very principles of the state under question, "because Hashemi (Rafsanjani) had the biggest role in the Islamic revolution", according to the ILNA news agency. He derided the idea that Rafsanjani was too old, saying: "How do they know whether Hashemi can run the country or not?" Motahari also suggested that Khamenei could step in to push the Guardian Council to approve Rafsanjani's candidacy if it is initially rejected. The body re-qualified two reformist presidential candidates in 2005 after Khamenei intervened. Parliament proposed age restrictions for presidential candidates last year, but dropped the measure after opposition from the Guardian Council. Many Iranians would view Rafsanjani's disqualification on the basis of age as a political pretext - and it might look awkward for Khamenei, who reinstated Rafsanjani as head of the Expediency Council, an advisory body, in 2012. "It is hard to fathom a justification for Rafsanjani's disqualification," said Farideh Farhi, an Iran analyst at the University of Hawaii. "His disqualification on the basis of not being sufficiently committed to the Leader will also challenge the Leader's judgment." (Additional reporting by Marcus George; Editing by Alistair Lyon)