First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, President Ahmadinejad's Adviser Ali Akbar Javanfekr, president's elder brother Davoud Ahmadinejad, Agricultural Jihad Minister Sadeq Khalilian, three former ministers of Ahmadinejad's cabinet Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, Manouchehr Mottaki and Parviz Kazzemi, former Commerce Minister Mohammad Shariatmadari, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehman-Parast and former Central Bank chief Tahmasb Mazaheri are among the hundreds who had joined the race ahead of the Saturday registration deadline. Pro-reform activists Ebrahim Asqarzadeh and Javad Eta'at also signed up.
Several other prominent candidacies who registered on Friday are reformist former vice-president Mohammad Reza Aref, former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Chief Mohsen Rezaei, lawmaker Ali Reza Zakani, senior lawmaker and advisor to Supreme Leader Gholam Ali Haddad Adel and former Education Minister Alireza Ali-Ahmadi.
Also, former Iranian Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian and former Telecommunication Minister Mohammad Qarazi signed up for the upcoming presidential race at the election headquarters of Iran's Interior Ministry in Tehran on Thursday.
Over 500 candidates have registered so far, including moderate cleric Hassan Rohani, a former nuclear negotiator under reformist president Mohammad Khatami and several other reformists, including former member of the parliament Mostafa Kavakebian and MP Massoud Pezeshkian.
Two other Principlists, Vice-Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard and former health minister Kamran Baqeri Lankarani, are also running.
The 11th presidential election will take place on June 14, 2013. Registration of candidates started on May 7 and will finish at 6pm this afternoon.
The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.
