Iran presidential candidates lay blame for ‘failed’ nuclear deal on reformer Rouhani

Tehran mayor and a candidate in Iran’s 12th presidential election, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, has issued a statement announcing that he is to withdraw from the presidential race while backing principlist candidate, Seyyed Ebrahim Raeisi.

Seeking a second term, pragmatist President Hassan Rouhani, 68, remains the narrow favorite, but hardline rivals have hammered him over his failure to boost an economy weakened by decades of sanctions.

Having now called on conservative voters to unite behind Raisi, Qalibaf could conceivably upset forecasts that Rouhani was on course for a comfortable victory.

The election is seen largely as a referendum on Rouhani’s outreach to the rest of the world following the country’s landmark 2015 nuclear accord with world powers.

He said on Monday he needed a stronger mandate to liberalize Iranian society, a big wish of his backers in 2013.

Mr Rouhani, first elected in a landslide win four years ago on a promise to reduce Iran’s global isolation, is trying to hold on to office by firing up reformist voters disillusioned by a stalled economy and the slow pace of social reform.

Iranian cleric Ebrahim Raisi leaves at the conclusion of a press briefing after registering his candidacy for the May 19 presidential elections at the Interior Ministry in Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 14, 2017.

In the ongoing presidential campaign, Rouhani said he would focus on tackling unemployment and stimulate production.

As a candidate in 2013, Rouhani had pledged to free Karroubi and Mousavi, as well as Mousavi’s wife, Zahra Rahnavard. Experts on Iranian politics and the economy say many Iranians feel disheartened – disappointed that they have yet to reap the benefits of the nuclear deal.

Khatami – who is a figurehead for the republic’s reformists – urged Iranians to vote for the current president during Friday’s elections, which could see a second run-off if neither candidate gets more than 50 percent of the votes in the first round.

His first vice president, Eshaq Jahangiri, also a candidate, asked people to vote to protect Iran, “We have to protect Iran”. At a campaign appearance in the northwestern city of Zanjan on Tuesday, Rouhani also upbraided the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Iran’s elite and most powerful military and security force, suggesting it was drumming up support for Raisi even though he did not directly name the group.

Qalibaf’s decision brings the number of candidates competing in Friday’s election to five, though more may drop out in the coming days to solidify support for other candidates.

Raisi, a former attorney general, serves as the head of the Imam Reza charity foundation, which manages a vast conglomerate of businesses and endowments in Iran. A report Monday by the state-run IRNA news agency said a survey of over 6,000 eligible voters found over a third saying they would not be voting, while another 46 percent said they would pick their candidate later. Raisi, who is also running on a campaign to improve the economy, said in the Golestan province: “Citizen’s right means the right of an unemployed to find job”. But with the election of Donald Trump as president, this new power balance is under threat. In 1988, Raisi was part of a tribunal that oversaw the execution of thousands of political prisoners.