Iranians vote in presidential election marred by disqualifications

Iranians are voting to elect a new president, with all but one of the four candidates to succeed Hassan Rouhani regarded as hardliners.

Opinion polls suggest Ebrahim Raisi, a conservative Shia cleric who heads the judiciary, is the clear favourite.

Moderate former central bank governor Abdolnasser Hemmati is his main rival.

Dissidents and some reformists have called for a boycott, saying the barring of several contenders left Mr Raisi with no serious competition.

Supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei cast his vote early on Friday morning in Tehran and encouraged people to go the polls.

“Each vote counts … come and vote and choose your president,” he said. “This is important for the future of your country,”

There is widespread discontent among Iranians at the economic hardship they have faced since the US abandoned a nuclear deal with Iran three years ago and reinstated crippling sanctions.

Four ways election matters

The elections coincide with the latest round of talks in Vienna between Iran and world powers that are aimed at reviving the accord, which saw Iran agree to limit its nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.

Mr Rouhani, a moderate who sought to engage with the West, cannot stand for re-election because he has served two consecutive four-year terms.

Almost 600 hopefuls, including 40 women, registered for the election.

But in the end only seven men were approved last month by the 12 jurists and theologians on the hard-line Guardian Council, an unelected body that has the ultimate decision with regard to candidates’ qualifications.

Eshaq Jahangiri, Mr Rouhani’s first vice-president, and Ali Larijani, a conservative former speaker of parliament, were among the prominent candidates not allowed to run.

By Thursday, three of the approved candidates – Supreme National Security Council secretary Saeed Jalili, MP Alireza Zakani, and reformist former Vice-President Mohsen Mehralizadeh – had dropped out.

Mr Jalili and Mr Zakani, who are hardliners, both endorsed Mr Raisi, while Mr Mehralizadeh said he wanted to “unify” the reformist vote – an apparent endorsement for Mr Hammati.

If no candidate wins more than 50% of the vote in the first round there will be a run-off election.

-BBC

In Other News: Tembisa 10 mother arrested

The South African Police Services and Gauteng Department of Social Development stand accused of alleged abuse of power after the mother of the Tembisa decuplets Gosiame Sithole was detained by police in the early hours of Thursday.