Live but Controlled Debate

The newspaper Aftab Yazd emphasized that the debates will be 'live but controlled,' stating: 'After the debates of 2013, a series of criticisms from the people indicated that the 'group' format of the debates did not guide or lead them as expected. Although during the debates some candidates turned the group format into one-on-one confrontations, the people's demand from the debates is to reveal many realities candidly.' The newspaper Khorasan, on its front page, referred to the 'beginning of provincial trips' by presidential candidates and the holding of media sessions by the candidates, stating: 'Election campaigning has entered the field phase.' According to this newspaper, on Sunday, the third day of the presidential candidates' campaigns, Hassan Rouhani and Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf traveled to Qazvin and Mazandaran respectively to kick off the first provincial trips during the election campaign, while Ebrahim Raisi also went to Baharestan to meet and discuss with a group of representatives. Khorasan also reported that 'Mostafa Mir-Salim held a press conference to explain his views and opinions among journalists,' but 'Mostafa Hashemi Taba and Eshaq Jahangiri have engaged less in campaign activities compared to previous days.' This newspaper mentioned Qalibaf's election promise for 'payment of allowances' and simultaneously reported that Ebrahim Raisi, another candidate from the principlist faction, criticized the economic situation and the existence of 'corruption' in Iran, stating: 'It is unacceptable for a government to accuse the previous government of administrative corruption; saying 'thief, thief' does not solve any problems,' and 'if I become president, I will absolutely not allow corruption to take root anywhere in the country, and within six months, I will announce a report on the restructuring of corruption-prone structures.' Khorasan also quoted Ebrahim Raisi as saying: 'The Mehr Housing project was unfortunately halted as a national project that could have activated the industry and economy and created jobs.' The newspaper Etemad, on its front page, referred to Mohammad Reza Aref's speech in the Islamic Consultative Assembly and his request for Hassan Rouhani to address the issue of 'lifting the house arrest' of Mir Hossein Mousavi, Zahra Rahnavard, and Mehdi Karroubi, reporting that the former president said: 'If Rouhani deserves your trust again and takes on responsibility once more, he will not fear anyone or anything in fulfilling the demands of the Iranian people.' This newspaper published parts of Rouhani's first speech during the legal campaign period for the presidential election, which took place on Sunday at Babaei Stadium in Qazvin in front of his supporters, stating: Rouhani's speech 'began by recalling the past; a period that can still be his trump card in the upcoming election.' Etemad also quoted Hassan Rouhani as saying: 'In 2013, we imported six million tons of wheat for the people's bread, but in 2016, three million tons of our wheat was ready for export. We want our society to be such that we can regain the oil market that we lost and that Saudi Arabia seized; today we have regained it. After sixty-some years, we have achieved the dream of increasing non-oil exports,' and now 'we produce 3.8 million barrels of oil and have increased exports by one million barrels in a few months. Regaining this market and producing and exporting oil means national power.' The newspaper Hamdeli also quoted Hassan Rouhani as saying: 'In the coming days and opportunities ahead, I will reveal some truths that I have not told the people until now, about how some have obstructed instead of helping the nation and advancing Iran, but the Iranian people have shown resistance, power, and steadfastness, and have carried out their work without paying attention to false propaganda.' According to this newspaper, Hassan Rouhani also emphasized that 'financing city expenses through incorrect paths such as selling density, selling the rights of people and generations is wrong.' The newspaper Javan, close to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, published photos of Qalibaf, Raisi, and Rouhani on its front page, emphasizing that 'the candidates' campaign movement began from the cities,' stating: 'On Sunday, Rouhani went to Qazvin, Qalibaf to Mazandaran, and Raisi, who went to the parliament on Sunday, will go to Sistan and Baluchestan on Tuesday.' This newspaper, close to the IRGC, without mentioning the widespread disqualifications of candidates in various elections and while Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi, two candidates who protested in the 2009 election, are under 'house arrest,' and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the former president, has also been 'disqualified' in this election, wrote: 'Iran can be considered the owner of the only real democracy in the region, and if we consider the unexpected and unforeseen results of some past elections, we can regard democracy in Iran as one of the best examples in the world.' The newspaper Hamdeli reported with the headline 'Debate Begins from Saturday Evening,' stating: 'From the evening of Saturday, May 8, the election atmosphere will heat up with the candidates entering the debate studio and will become more serious.' According to this newspaper, 'The first debate will be held on Saturday evening for three hours with the presence of six presidential candidates; this debate will not be one-on-one, and the debates will be held with all candidates present.' The newspaper Shargh, while publishing several notes about 'the tactics of the principlists in the first debate,' wrote: 'It seems that in this contest, the rivals will criticize the performance of the cabinet's economic team without considering the conditions under which the government of prudence and hope took over the country; also, distorting statistics and even sometimes fabricating statistics is a traditional method of the principlist faction to highlight the weaknesses of the opponent or to showcase their own power.' Saeed Leilaz, a professor at Beheshti University, emphasized in a note that 'there is a principle among the principlist faction; whenever they want to seize power, they focus on the people's livelihood and make promises, and whenever they want to maintain power, they sacrifice the preservation of values.' The columnist of the newspaper Shargh, referring to the period when power was in the hands of the principlists and they ruled the country—from 2005 to 2013—wrote: 'The severity of this damage was such that the eleventh government, regardless of the methods it used, has not yet been able to restore the economy to the levels of 2005 and before. It seems that in this debate, the principlists will try to make Rouhani pay for their own governance mistakes and instead of being accountable themselves, they will punish Rouhani for not being able to compensate for the deep devastations of the eight years before him in four years.' According to this economic expert, 'The only way Rouhani can respond to these attacks in a live televised debate is to be very clear and powerful—contrary to the behavior he has shown over the past four years—about the 'disaster' he inherited and to reveal the deep and dark reality of what he has seen to the people. He must tell the people that when he took power in 2013, the purchasing power of government employees was 73 percent less than their purchasing power in 2005; meaning that employees had only 27 percent of their capacity in 2005. Rouhani must also tell the people in the clearest possible way that the purchasing power of workers in 2013 compared to 2011 decreased by 65 to 70 percent. The purchasing power of retirees also decreased by up to 50 percent during the same period.' The newspaper Vaghaye Ettefaghieh evaluated the dismissal of Hamid Mirzadeh from the presidency of Azad University as an action with electoral implications, writing that 'the president of Azad University was suddenly dismissed amid the electoral fervor.'