Election 96; What is 'Desirable'?

Will Rouhani become a one-term president? What would his replacement by a rival from the opposing faction mean for Iran? What about his victory? Is there a 'desirable' option among them? Now that the shape of the upcoming presidential election is gradually becoming clear, such questions can be addressed. Last week, two events clearly indicated who the main rival or rivals of Hassan Rouhani in the May elections would be, should they pass the Guardian Council's vetting. The announcement of Ebrahim Raisi's candidacy, who is known as the favored candidate of Ayatollah Mohammad Taqi Mesbah Yazdi, identified one of the main competitors of Hassan Rouhani. On the other hand, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's press conference in full support of Hamid Baqai, the executive deputy of the tenth government, showed that Rouhani's rival faction is seeking to regain lost seats; although many observers believe the likelihood of Hamid Baqai being approved by the Guardian Council is very low. On the other side of the field, there are those who fundamentally consider the elections and their mechanisms in Iran to be unfair and invalid. They say there is no desirable option among them. They claim Ebrahim Raisi has blood on his hands from the executions of the summer of '67; the same mass executions for which one of his three-member committee members is currently the Minister of Justice under Hassan Rouhani. They argue that there is no difference in the candidates.