Who was the winner of Iran’s first presidential debate?
While the first round of Iran’s first presidential debates this year was supposed to be about social issues, it quickly turned into a battle on the economy and politics.
On April 28, Iranians tuned into state television’s Channel 1 to watch the first round of presidential debates — a forum that greatly shapes voter sentiments.
Incumbent President Hassan Rouhani, First Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri and Mostafa Hashemi-Taba, a former minister of industries and mines, are the candidates of the Reformist-moderate camp. On the other side of the political spectrum, the conservatives are represented by Ebrahim Raisi, the custodian of the holy shrine of the eighth Shiite imam, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and Mostafa Mirsalim, a former minister of culture and Islamic guidance.
