Last Campaign Efforts of Presidential Candidates; Qazizadeh Hashemi Withdraws

Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, one of the six candidates in the fourteenth presidential election, withdrew from the competition on the last night of the campaign period. On Wednesday evening, July 6, he announced via a post on his X (Twitter) account that he is stepping down to "preserve the cohesion of revolutionary forces and in response to a written request from the Supreme Council of the Consensus of Revolutionary Forces." This candidate, close to the principlists, urged three other candidates from this faction, including Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Saeed Jalili, and Alireza Zakani, to "unite." Shortly after the end of the election debates, a dispute among the close associates of Saeed Jalili and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, two principlist candidates, escalated on social media regarding one of them stepping down in favor of the other. For a long time, principlist figures have stated that there should be an alliance and unity among the candidates associated with this faction to avoid what they believe would be a "scattering of votes" leading to defeat against Masoud Pezeshkian, the candidate from the reformist camp. Both Qalibaf and Jalili emphasize continuing their electoral activities until the "end." On Wednesday, Qalibaf, Jalili, and Zakani separately rejected the idea of withdrawing from the competition. Hossein Shariatmadari, representative of Ali Khamenei at the Kayhan Institute, emphasized in a note on Tuesday, July 5, without naming any specific candidate, that if some candidates have announced their "continuation in the race during the debates, they should not - God forbid - consider withdrawing in favor of another as neglecting their previous promise." Shariatmadari claimed that "the reformists and Westerners are worried about the coalition of the revolutionary forces" and told principlist candidates who emphasize continuing the path of Raisi's government that "if you want the presence and continuation of the discourse of the dear martyr Raisi, which is another interpretation of the discourse of the Imam, the revolution, and the leadership, you must agree to the coalition." He even went further and quoted a phrase from Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, stating that "a man is one who changes his mind." Saeed Jalili, Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, and Alireza Zakani, three principlist candidates, have repeatedly praised the unfinished government of Ebrahim Raisi in their electoral debates and promotional statements, emphasizing the continuation of his path. However, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has not explicitly supported the three aforementioned candidates from Raisi's government, which is referred to as the "martyr of service," and Mostafa Pourmohammadi and Masoud Pezeshkian have also limited their criticism of the thirteenth government. Therefore, it seems that Shariatmadari's reference to the withdrawal of three principlist candidates in favor of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf is implied. Following the statements of the Supreme Leader regarding the most suitable candidate on Tuesday, some social media users wrote that Ali Khamenei's indirect reference could be to the current Speaker of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, who both has a "heartfelt belief" in the "foundations of the revolution" and possesses the "ability" to work. Farid Modarresi, a journalist close to the principlist camp, claimed on X that Saeed Jalili is in a situation similar to "house arrest" due to the "prescription" of his electoral circle, preventing senior principlist figures from negotiating with him about consensus within this group and persuading him to accept withdrawal. Meanwhile, figures close to Jalili, including Amir Hossein Sabati, a current member of parliament, have published results of polls whose sources and conditions are unclear, claiming that if Qalibaf, Zakani, and Qazizadeh withdraw in favor of Jalili, "the election will likely end in the first round with Jalili's victory." Ali Akbar Raefipour, another supporter of Jalili, warned that Qalibaf's continued participation in the competition would lead to his "political death." He confirmed reports that Qalibaf's associates are trying to "persuade other candidates, especially Jalili, to withdraw in favor of the revolutionary front (read Qalibaf)." Concurrently, reports from some users close to the principlists on social media have stated that "the final arrangement of the election will be determined today around 8 PM in Mashhad." Saeed Jalili is scheduled to give a speech to his supporters at Takhti Stadium in Mashhad at 5 PM on Wednesday. Some of Jalili's supporters, including Hamid Rasai, a former member of parliament, have also thrown the ball into Qalibaf's court, stating that the "revolutionary front" is waiting for his announcement of withdrawal to achieve unity. The website "Entekhab" also quoted a close associate of Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf as saying, "Jalili will announce his withdrawal in favor of Qalibaf in Mashhad." On Tuesday night, Qalibaf rejected reports about his withdrawal from the upcoming election in a video. The Speaker responded to questions regarding the rumors of his withdrawal over the past 48 hours, saying, "This is naturally a rumor. There has always been this discussion. No [I will continue]. This is a national duty." Qalibaf emphasized, "If I were not serious, I would be the Speaker of the Parliament and could stay there." The account attributed to Saeed Jalili on the social media platform X also posted a short message after the last debate of the presidential candidates on Tuesday, stating: "I stand determined." Meanwhile, Amin Sadeghi, a figure close to Qalibaf, wrote that Amir Hossein Sabati and Hamid Rasai "are preventing Jalili from withdrawing in favor of Qalibaf. If unity does not occur, write the failure of the revolutionary front on these two." Saeed Jalili and Alireza Zakani, who are hardline figures in the principlist camp, withdrew in favor of Ebrahim Raisi in the previous presidential election in 2021. Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf also withdrew in favor of Raisi in the 2017 election. The media in Iran refer to Alireza Zakani and Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi as the cover candidates of the principlists. A recent poll has been published while the market for anonymous polls on social media is hot, and supporters of various candidates reference them in their statements in favor of their preferred candidates. The results of the "fourth wave" poll by the "Milat Polling Institute" at the Research Center of the Parliament regarding participation in the fourteenth presidential election were also published on Wednesday. In this poll, which disclosed the characteristics of the statistical population and the method of polling, it is stated that "45.7% of the people said they will definitely participate in this election, 31.6% are undecided about this, and 22.6% expressed that they will definitely not participate in the upcoming election." According to the results of this poll, Masoud Pezeshkian is leading with 23.5% of the votes, followed by Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf with 16.9%, and Saeed Jalili with 16.3%. 3.2% of respondents chose Amir Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi, 1.2% Alireza Zakani, and 0.5% Mostafa Pourmohammadi as their selected candidates. However, some political experts do not trust these polls and say they are published to send signals to the principlists to expedite their coalition against Pezeshkian. In relation to election news, the representative of the Supreme Leader in Hajj and Pilgrimage Affairs reported the Saudi government's opposition to holding presidential elections among Iranian pilgrims. In a brief statement, this body stated: "Despite Iranian officials' efforts for pilgrims to vote in the cities of Mecca and Medina, the host government (Saudi Arabia) did not agree to hold elections on July 8." The spokesperson for the election headquarters had previously stated that about 47,000 Iranians would be in Mecca and Medina on election day. The representative of the Supreme Leader in Hajj and Pilgrimage Affairs has not yet released further details on this matter. The fourteenth presidential election will be held on Saturday, July 8, 2023. In the meantime, Hassan Rouhani, the former president of Iran, explicitly criticized the performance of Ebrahim Raisi's government in a video, stating that July 8 is significant for the people of Iran because they "have endured three years of continuous suffering." His reference is to the presidency of Raisi, which ended prematurely this year with his death and the death of his entourage in a helicopter crash. Mr. Rouhani added that during Raisi's presidency, the Iranian people "experienced inflation above four percent for three years, witnessed social pressures and unethical behavior in the streets, and were waiting every month and every day for the end of sanctions, and unfortunately, one signature (to revive the JCPOA) did not accomplish anything in these three years." The former president of Iran criticized Raisi's government explicitly, while after his death and being referred to as the "martyr of service," the possibility of criticism against him and his government has been almost removed from critics. He explicitly supported Masoud Pezeshkian and urged the people to vote for someone who is "determined to lift the shadow of sanctions from the Iranian people, revive the JCPOA, and strive for Iran to join the FATF and be placed on the white list." Mr. Rouhani told the people: "Let us not allow those who mislead the country with incorrect statistics to regain power. In these debates, we saw that they did not tell the people the truth and did not present anything truthful to the people." These statements come after the Supreme Leader criticized individuals who look to foreign countries, the West, and especially the United States, during the last day of the candidates' televised debates. Ali Khamenei, in his remarks, which could refer to Masoud Pezeshkian, the candidate from the reformist camp, criticized politicians who are dependent on some powers, especially the United States, and who, according to him, "think that all paths to progress go through America," stating that they cannot utilize all the capacities of the country. Among the candidates, only Mostafa Pourmohammadi and Masoud Pezeshkian explicitly referred to the necessity of reviving the nuclear agreement known as the JCPOA and lifting sanctions, while Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf has shown some agreement with this issue, but other candidates have opposed relations with the West and the revival of the JCPOA.