After Baqai, Two More Members of Ahmadinejad's Government to Run for Presidency

One day after Hamid Baqai announced his candidacy for the 2017 presidential election, a member of the "Yekta Front" announced that Hamid Reza Hajibabaei and Rostam Qasemi, two members of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's cabinet, have been chosen as candidates for this front. According to ISNA news agency, Mohammad Hosseini, the Minister of Culture in Ahmadinejad's government, on Sunday, February 19, also announced the readiness of five other members of Ahmadinejad's cabinet to run for election. As Mr. Hosseini stated, the "Yekta Front" has introduced Hamid Reza Hajibabaei, the Minister of Education, and Rostam Qasemi, the Minister of Oil, as its candidates to the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces." The "Yekta Front" consists of several managers from Ahmadinejad's government, but members of this group have previously denied any organizational connection with Ahmadinejad. Meanwhile, Rostam Qasemi, Ahmadinejad's Minister of Oil, has been introduced as a candidate for this front, despite being previously accused by Amir Abbas Soltani, a member of the committee investigating Babak Zanjani's case in the ninth parliament, of being involved in the Babak Zanjani case along with the Minister of Intelligence, the Minister of Economy, and the Governor of the Central Bank during Ahmadinejad's administration. In this regard, Sadegh Larijani, the head of the judiciary, also stated that the case against Ahmadinejad's government regarding Babak Zanjani is still open and that "no one has said that these ministers or others have been acquitted or have been exempted from prosecution." The Minister of Culture of Ahmadinejad's government further announced that the "Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces" plans to consider 10 individuals as final candidates for the 2017 presidential election. According to Mr. Hosseini, Mehrdad Bazrpash, the head of the National Youth Organization, Mohammad Mehdi Zahedi, the Minister of Science, Mohammad Ali Abadi, the head of the Physical Education Organization, and Masoud Zaribafan, the head of the Martyrs Foundation, have also expressed their readiness to run for election. He, who is a member of the "Yekta Front" and the Secretary-General of the "Islamic Iranian University Scholars Association," has not ruled out the possibility of introducing himself as a candidate for this group. Thus, three members of Ahmadinejad's cabinet have announced their candidacy, and five others have expressed their readiness to run. The "Popular Front of Islamic Revolution Forces" is a new conservative group that was established in early December, with founding members including Mohammad Hossein Rahimian, Mehdi Chamran, Yahya Al-Es'haq, Alireza Marandi, Hamid Reza Hajibabaei, and Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi. Previously, the Islamic Coalition Party had introduced Mostafa Mir Salim, the Minister of Culture in Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani's government, as its candidate. On Saturday, Hamid Baqai, Ahmadinejad's executive assistant, announced that he intends to run for election "completely independent of individuals, groups, parties, and political factions." Mr. Baqai, who is known as one of Ahmadinejad's closest associates, was arrested last June on charges of "embezzlement" and was released in January of the following year. Before Baqai's candidacy, Ahmadinejad had issued a statement announcing that he would not support "any individual, faction, party, or group" in the upcoming presidential election. Besides members of Ahmadinejad's government, some media have mentioned Saeed Jalili, Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, Ezzatollah Zarghami, and Ahmad Tavakoli as potential rivals to Mr. Rouhani in the 2017 presidential election. Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Ahmad Tavakoli, and Ezzatollah Zarghami have stated that they have no intention of running in the upcoming election. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has conditioned his candidacy on the introduction of a single candidate by conservatives. Gholam Ali Haddad Adel has not commented on this matter, and Saeed Jalili has neither confirmed nor denied his candidacy in this election.