Alireza Zakani, the hard-line mayor of Tehran, has said he is withdrawing from Iran’s presidential race -- the second to announce backing out of the June 28 election -- to help the conservative camp reach a consensus candidate.
Zakani made the announcement in a statement posted on social media on June 26, less than a day after Amirhossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, who served as a deputy to late President Ebrahim Raisi, dropped out of the race.
Iran is holding a presidential election on June 28 following the death of the ultraconservative Raisi in a helicopter crash last month. Elections in the Islamic republic are tightly controlled, with candidates being preselected by an unelected body dominated by hard-liners.
The six candidates cleared to run are all men, most are hard-liners, and some have ties to the powerful Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), the elite branch of Iran's armed forces.
"I want them [the main candidates] to look for unity and not to ignore the demands of the forces of the revolution and prevent the formation of a 'third Rouhani government" Zakani said in his post on X, referring to moderate former President Hassan Rouhani.
Hard-liners have accused the sole reformist hopeful Masud Pezeshkian of looking to continue the politics of Rouhani, who was strongly criticized by conservatives during his eight years in power.
Zakani also urged conservative parliament speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf and hard-line former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili to "unite" in a bid to stop Pezeshkian from winning the June 28 election.
Qazizadeh Hashemi announced late on June 26 that he too had withdrawn from the race in order to cement support around a single hard-line candidate.
The two were seen to be vying for the same voting bloc, which could help Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon and the sole reformist in the race.
Pezeshkian has the support of pro-reform parties and has been endorsed by moderates, including Rouhani and several members of his government.
The election was always thought to be a three-way race among Qalibaf, Jalili, and Pezeshkian. Several recent opinion polls in Iran show Pezeshkian pulling ahead of his conservative rivals. Pressure has been building on Qalibaf and Jalili to reach an agreement, with hard-liners warning that failing to settle on a consensus candidate could split the conservative vote.
