The only reformist candidate running in Iran’s presidential election dropped out of the race yesterday, the last day of campaigning, the state-run Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA) reported, likely trying to increase the chances of a moderate candidate.
Mohsen Mehralizadeh, 64, resigned in a letter to the Iranian Ministry of the Interior, which runs elections in the Islamic republic, IRNA said.
Dropouts are common in the country’s elections to gather support behind a similar candidate.
Mehralizadeh’s departure would likely boost the chances of former Bank of Iran governor Abdolnasser Hemmati, who has been running as a moderate and a stand-in for Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who is barred from running due to term limits.
Mehralizadeh served as governor in two Iranian provinces, as vice president in charge of physical education and as a deputy in the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, which runs the country’s civilian nuclear program.
He came in last place in Iran’s 2005 election, but found himself barred from running in 2015.
The announcement yesterday leaves six candidates in the race.
Polling and analysts indicate that Hemmati lags behind Iranian Chief Justice Ebrahim Raisi, the campaign’s front-runner long cultivated by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Other hardline candidates might have dropped out yesterday to lend their support to Raisi.
Within Iran, candidates exist on a political spectrum that broadly includes hardliners who want to expand Iran’s nuclear program and confront the world, moderates who hold onto the status quo and reformists who want to change the theocracy from within.
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