Hardline prosecutor emerges as Rohani’s main challenger
london — Hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi, seen as pragmatist President Hassan Rohani’s main challenger in a May 19 election, is a close ally of Iran’s supreme leader and despises the West.
The hardline faction in Tehran appears to have reached consensus on the candidacy of the 57-yearold cleric, hoping to avoid splitting the vote of those avid for what they see as a revival of the values of the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Raisi is a mid-ranking figure in the hierarchy of Iran’s clergy but has been a senior official for decades in the judiciary which enforces clerical control of the country.
The former prosecutor-general may struggle for recognition among voters, though analysts say Raisi, thanks to the support he enjoys from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, could pose a real challenge to Rohani’s bid for a second
His candidacy comes as a surprise and he definitely poses a challenge, a big one, to Rouhani Hossein Rassam
term. “His candidacy comes as a surprise and he definitely poses a challenge, a big one, to Rohani,” said Hossein Rassam, a former Iran adviser to Britain’s Foreign Office.
“Chances are even greater now that we will be having a two-round election in Iran, with a very polarised second round.”
Rohani was elected four years ago in a landslide, avoiding a runoff by securing more than 50 per cent of the vote in the first round, on promises to reduce Iran’s international isolation and bring more freedoms at home. No other candidate won more than 17 per cent of the vote. But this time around Rohani could face a tougher challenge, if a single hardliner like Raisi unifies conservatives against him and forces a second round.
Rohani’s signature achievement, a deal with world powers to curb Iran’s nuclear programme in return for lifting financial sanctions, has yet to bring the broad-based economic benefits that the government says are coming. Some supporters also say they are disheartened by the slow pace of domestic change.
Raisi has tapped into hardline criticism of Rohani’s record, saying the president bet too strongly on rapprochement with enemies and did too little at home to improve the economy. “Our problems are not something to be resolved by Americans and Westerners,” Raisi said in September. —