Iran hard-liners set up roadblocks around Reformist candidates for president
Half a year away from Iran’s presidential election, the country’s hard-liners are already hard at work to ensure the next president is on their side.
Iran’s competing political forces are already preparing for next June's presidential elections. Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, a moderate, cannot constitutionally run again as he wraps up his second term in office.
The conservative camp, largely affiliated with the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), is already in full control of the judiciary and parliament. While each side has long lists of candidates vying for presidency, the conservative camp seems to be particularly exerting itself to minimize the chances of its rivals.
Earlier in November, the hard-line parliament passed controversial amendments to Iran's electoral law, setting an age limit that effectively quashed the chances of young moderate Minister of Communications and Information Technology Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi. Under the new law, candidates must be above 40 years of age to run.
Jahromi, the only Iranian minister born after the Islamic Revolution, had been a promising candidate for the Moderate-Reformist camp. Defying stereotypes and depicting himself as a champion against corruption, the 39-year-old minister has been actively engaged with the younger generation through social media.
