Iran’s election is becoming more interesting

After they disqualified the top two contenders – Rafsanjani (Iran’s two termed ex-President and also a very seasoned politician) and Mashaei (Ahmadinejad’s father in law).

Guardian Council, a very influential political group rumored to be very close to Iran’s supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, selects and vet each candidate. Generally they disqualify candidates who are insane, homeless, irreligious and also female gender.

The daughter of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of Iran's Islamic republic, has protested against the disqualification of Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from next month's presidential election.

Zahra Mostafavi has written to the country's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, calling on him to reinstate Rafsanjani in order to prevent the forming of a dictatorship.

Both of the candidates seem to be very unpopular with Iran’s supreme leader so this news is not very surprising.

The following candidates have been approved as Presidential candidates

MP Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel,
Supreme National Security Council Secretary Saeed Jalili,
Expediency Council Secretary Mohsen Rezaei,
Hassan Rohani, the director of the Strategic Research Center of the Expediency Council,
former First Vice President Mohammad-Reza Aref,
Tehran Mayor Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf,
former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi, and
former Foreign Minister Ali-Akbar Velayati.

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