AP: Hard-line Iranian lawmakers have petitioned authorities to bar two contenders – a moderate former president and a protege of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – from running in next month’s presidential election.
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran (AP) — Hard-line Iranian lawmakers have petitioned authorities to bar two contenders – a moderate former president and a protege of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – from running in next month’s presidential election.
According to a report Wednesday by the semi-official Fars news agency, about 100 lawmakers appealed to the country’s Guardian Council, which vets and short-lists all those seeking to run in the June 14 election.
One of the lawmakers, Javad Karimi Qodoosi, says they want ex-president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani barred for supporting the opposition in the disputed 2009 vote.
Qodoosi says the lawmakers also want the Council to disqualify Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close confident of Ahmadinejad, for his alleged un-Islamic attitudes.
Rafsanjani and Mashaei last week submitted their candidacies to the Council, which is to announce the finalists later this month.
