Iran elections: Conservative Haddad-Adel drops out
Gholam-Ali HaddadAdel, a relative of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei, drops out of the presidential race and asks his followers to vote for his hardline conservative colleagues.
Haddad-Adel belonged to a coalition of conservative “Principlist” candidates that included Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati.
“I ask the dear people to strictly observe the criteria of the Supreme Leader of the Revolution (Khamenei) when they vote,” he said, in a statement reported by the semi-official Mehr news agency. The list of candidates is dominated by conservatives close to Khamenei.
He did not endorse a single candidate, but called for a hardline conservative victory on the election which begins on June 14:
“I advise the dear people to take a correct decision so that either a Principlist wins in the first round, or if the election runs to a second round, the competition be between two Principlists.”
Iran’s last presidential election in 2009 resulted in mass protests, after reformists claimed that the election was rigged to favour President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.