“Individuals from all Iranian ethnic groups, including Kurdish intellectuals, will be present in the cabinet,” said Rezaei in a speech in Sanandaj, the capital city of Iran’s western Kordestan Province.
Rezaei, who is now secretary of the Expediency Council, vowed to fully implement Article 15 and 19 of Iran’s Constitution, which define the rights of ethnic groups and tribes.
He also reaffirmed his resolve to decentralize the government in a bid to eliminate deprivation.
Rezaei is competing against seven rivals, namely Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, President of the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Council Hassan Rohani, lawmaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi.
Iranians will go to the polls in the country’s 11th presidential election on June 14. The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election.
Nearly 50.5 million Iranians are eligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, with more than 1.6 million first-time voters.
