Iran presidential race: top clerics may lose to non-partisan nominee
By Dalga Khatinoglu, Farhad Daneshvar
There has been increasing speculations over the outcome of the
upcoming presidential elections in Iran to be held May 19.
Whether or not incumbent President Hassan Rouhani will assume the
power for the second term is mere speculation.
Moderate Rouhani, backed by a group of reformists will have to
fight off the challenge from an influential conservative cleric,
Ebrahim Raisi, alongside with several independent nominees.
A large number of conservatives appear to throw their full support
behind Ebrahim Raisi who currently holds the position of the
custodian of a wealthy charity and the organization in charge of
the holiest Shia shrine of Iran based in the city of Mashhad.
However, these two clerics are not the only potential nominees as
some observers say the both camps, conservatives and reformists,
have so far failed to unite in favor of a single candidate.
Saeed Yari, the secretary general of a non-state organization for
protecting national interests, has said that the independent
candidates enjoy better chances to win the election concerning the
country’s current political landscape.
Reformist camp
According to Yari, there are differences in reformists’ camp over
giving support to Rouhani. Therefore a considerable part of
reformists will probably back a pro-reformist but independent
candidate rather than Rouhani.
In the meantime some other analysts suggest that Rouhani does not
enjoy as much public support as his nuclear deal with the world has
failed to improve the economic situation of the ordinary
people.
However, Hassan Lasjerdi, a lecturer at Tehran University and
political expert, believes that Rouhani’s administration has
relatively performed well in improving the county’s ties with the
rest of the world through resolving the issue of the country’s
nuclear program.
Conservative camp
According to Saeed Yari, the conservatives’ camp also suffers from
considerable gaps, forecasting that several nominees would possibly
represent conservatives in the election as it is impossible to
create a pro-conservative coalition in the current situation.
The public trust in Ebrahim Raisi, then attorney general of Iran,
also appears to fall due to the weak performance of the country’s
judiciary system, though Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei may
support him, Yari says.
Yari believes that the clerics both, Raisi and Rouhani, may lose
ground to a non-partisan nominee who manages to secure the trust of
the public.