Iranian Candidates and Coalitions Prepare for Elections

Iranian presidential candidates are increasingly representing economic rather than political interests amid signs of the beginnings of coalition politics, writes Kourosh Avaei.
Iranians attend a ceremony where former top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rowhani announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in Tehran on April 11, 2013. The June 14 election will be followed closely four years after Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's re-election for a second term sparked a wave of violent protests that were suppressed by the regime with deadly force. AFP PHOTO/ATTA KENARE (Photo credit should read ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images)
Iranians attend a ceremony where former top nuclear negotiator Hassan Rouhani announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election in Tehran on April 11, 2013. - ATTA KENARE/AFP/Getty Images
Kourosh Avaei

Iranians will go to the polls on June 14, 2013, to elect a new president. Two unprecedented phenomena catch the observer's eye in the months leading to the polls:

  1. The enormously high number of serious candidates running
  2. The coalition politics that have emerged in anticipation of the final nominations

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