Iran’s Guardian Council has approved two more reformist candidates to run in the presidential election on June 17.
The Guardian Council, a powerful body which vets would-be election candidates, originally disqualified Mustafa Mo’in, a former minister of higher education who resigned in 2003, and Mohsen Mehralizadeh.
Iran’s Supreme Leader ‘Ali Khamanai ordered their approval, fearing reformist groups will spearhead a popular boycott of the election.
More than one thousand Iranians registered as candidates for the race, including a former soccer star and 89 women. The Guardian Council originally disqualified all but six candidates.
The eight candidates for president now include three reformists – Mustafa Mo’in, Mohsen Mehralizadeh and Mehdi Karroubi, who was parliament speaker from 2000 until 2004.
The conservative candidates are former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, former police commander Muhammad Baqr Qalibaf, former chairman of the Islamic Republic Broadcasting ‘Ali Larijani, Tehran’s mayor Mahmoud Ahmadi Nejad and secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezai.