The newly-formed Followers of Imam's Line and Leadership Front is comprised of former Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki; Deputy Speakers of Iran's Majlis Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard and Mohammad Reza Bahonar; Director of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Yahya Ale Es’haq; and Head of the State Inspectorate Organization of Iran Hojjatoleslam Mostafa Pourmohammadi.
In an interview with Press TV on Saturday, Mottaki said there were primarily three candidates in the Imam followers’ Front but later it became a coalition of five who are trying to come up with just one candidate.
“We should run the country based on science and ethics, especially when it comes to macro policies and plans… Of course we should not ignore the role the elite could play in making decisions,” Aboutorabi-Fard said in another interview.
So far, at least 20 Principlist, Reformist and independent candidates have announced their decisions to run for president in the country’s upcoming presidential election.
Former health minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani is the most likely candidate of another Principlist camp, the Islamic Resistance Front.
Another Principalist coalition, dubbed 2+1, also entered the presidential campaign with familiar figures such as Tehran Mayor Mohammd Bagher Ghalibaf; Ali Akbar Velayati, an advisor to Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, and senior lawmaker Gholam Ali Haddad-Adel.
The Islamic Republic’s eleventh presidential election will be held in June and presidential hopefuls will register from May 7 to May 11.
The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.
