They waited until the last moment.

On the last day of the registration period for candidates in Iran, Saturday May 15, the moderate conservative Ali Larijani and the ultra-conservative Ebrahim Raïssi announced their candidatures for the Iranian presidential election of June 18, which now seems well on the way to shrinking. to a duel between them.

Former Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, now advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, entered the running by going to the Interior Ministry early in the morning to submit his case.

As for the religious ultraconservative Ebrahim Raïssi, head of the Judicial Authority since March 2019, he announced his in a press release before appearing at the ministry at midday.

Ebrahim Raïssi, head of the Iranian judicial system, shows his identity document during his candidacy on May 15, 2021 in Tehran, in the presidential election in June.

© Majid Asgaripour, WANA

Given their proximity to Ayatollah Khamenei, there is no doubt that the two men's candidacy was validated by the Council of Guardians, an unelected body responsible for determining who can compete in the election.

Conversely, the Iranian press believes that ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinehjad, ultraconservative and populist, should be disqualified, as in 2017, and that most reformist candidates should not pass the bar of the Guardians.

The other candidates who might be allowed to run do not seem able, at the present time, to be able to overshadow them and several might even rally to one or the other.

Disenchantment of the population

After record abstention (more than 57%) in the legislative elections of February 2020 which led to a conservative and ultraconservative tidal wave in Parliament, the Supreme Guide has called in recent months for massive participation in the presidential election.

And the candidatures of the two men, who have both already participated in a presidential election (Ali Larijani in 2005, Ebrahim Raïssi, in 2017) could well mobilize the electorate.

The great unknown remains the degree of disenchantment of the population while Hassan Rohani appears largely discredited within the public opinion, his great achievement, the nuclear agreement concluded between the Islamic Republic and the international community in 2015, threatens to shattered since the United States pulled out in 2018.

Faced with Ebrahim Raïssi, who can count on a solid base (he obtained more than 38% of the votes in the first round in 2017), Ali Larijani will therefore have to convince the disappointed of the Rouhani administration.

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The main question is the economy"

While the survival of the Vienna agreement is played out in negotiations started in April between Iranians, Europeans, Westerners, Russians and Chinese, the economic and social crisis is still being felt in the country.

"The main question is the economy," said Ali Larijani on Saturday, distancing himself from President Rouhani, whom he nevertheless supported when he was head of Parliament from 2008 to 2020.

Supporter of the Vienna agreement, the candidate added that "the foreign policy of the country [should] aim at facilitating the external relations for the economic development of the country".

Facing him, Ebrahim Raïssi said in his press release that the "relentless fight against poverty and corruption, humiliation and discrimination", themes that he had already put forward in 2017, would be at the heart of his action. he is elected.

With AFP

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