Contenders quit race ahead of Iran’s presidential poll as campaigning ends
Al Jazeera
Withdrawal of two candidates comes ahead of snap election after death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash.
Two candidates in Iran’s presidential election have withdrawn from the race as campaigning ended a day ahead of the vote.
Alireza Zakani, the mayor of the capital, Tehran, said on Thursday that he was backing away, in a post on X.
The first to do so was Amir-Hossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, who dropped his candidacy on Wednesday night and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened”, the state-run IRNA news agency reported.
The snap election will be held on Friday following the death of President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash in May. The next presidential vote was scheduled for 2025.
Hashemi served as one of Raisi’s vice presidents. He ran in the 2021 presidential election and received less than one million votes, coming in last place.
