Ex-speaker, president’s brother withdraw from elections

ILNA: Presidential hopeful, former speaker of Iran’s Foreign Ministry Ramin Mehmanparast has withdrawn his candidacy from the upcoming presidential elections.

Aside from Mehmanparast, current president’s brother, Davud Ahmadinejad has also withdrawn his candidacy from the elections, in favor of another presidential hopeful, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Saeed Jalili.

Iran’s Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said on May 19 that the ministry will announced the names of the presidential candidates on May 21, after it receives the final list from the Guardian Council.

Najjar also noted that during the two-day period, the ministry will hold meetings with the approved candidates to discuss their election campaigns.

The campaigning period for Iran’s presidential elections will end a day before the polls open. There will be 66,000 polling stations open for the upcoming election.

Iran will hold the 11th presidential election on June 14, 2013.

The voters will select the successor of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is not able to participate in the elections for the third term according to the country’s constitutional laws.

The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.