Four candidates approved for Iran presidential election

Four candidates approved for Iran presidential electionTehran - Four candidates have been approved for the June 12 presidential election, the Khabar news network reported Wednesday.

As expected, the Guardian Council, in charge of vetting the ideological qualifications of presidential candidates, approved Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mehdi Karroubi, Mir-Hossein Moussavi and Mohsen Rezaei to run in the presidential race.

A total of 475 candidates had registered for the presidential race, including 42 women, most of them without any political background.

While Karroubi, Moussavi and Rezaei have already started their election campaigns throughout the country, Ahmadinejad has not yet officially begun campainging.

Observers see moderate former prime minister Moussavi as Ahmadinejad's main challenger but the moderate cleric Karroubi, a former speaker of parliament, is also considered a serious opponent.

The conservative war veteran Rezaei, who was also commander of the Revolutionary Guards, has little chance. However, observers believe that he might gain from former Ahmadinejad supporters who are now disappointed with the president and his failure to realize promised economic reforms

According to some opinion polls, Ahmadinejad is the favourite to win the race but opposition groups question the reliability of such polls which are carried out mainly by media close to the president.

Observers say that the turnout rather than the candidates will be the main factor to determine the winner of the June 12 election.

Due to the current economic crisis in the country which people blame on Ahmadinejad's mismanagement, a high turnout would bring protest votes against the president, potentially favouring Moussavi or Karroubi.

A low turnout, however, would benefit Ahmadinejad as the president's supporters would go to the polls anyway.