Iran electoral watchdog hints at Rafsanjani rejection

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Reuters

(Reuters) - Iran's electoral watchdog said on Monday it would bar physically feeble candidates from running for president, in an apparent hint that it could disqualify 78-year-old former President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from the race.

Rafsanjani, if he is allowed to run, would be a significant challenge to conservative hardliners who are ultra-loyal to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and who otherwise dominate the field for the June 14 presidential election.

The wily, pragmatic cleric, who has often been close to the heart of power since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, shook up the election contest earlier this month when he joined the race.

But the Guardian Council, a conservative body of clerics and jurists that vets all candidates, may disqualify him, along with Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close ally of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who also registered to run at the last moment.

Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/20/us-iran-election-idUSBRE94J0CS20130520?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter&dlvrit=992637

[hobbit709]

1. could we apply that to some of the mentally feeble clowns running here?

[KamaAina]

2. Guess what? Iran is a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

you remember, the one that the teahadists blocked us from ratifying last year.

It'd be really sweet to see Rafsanjani stand on that if they go ahead with this! Besdie3s, he's really their best hope right now.

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. And they've barred them

Rafsanjani and Mashaei barred from Iran presidency poll

Ex-President Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani and Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei, a close ally of outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, had been excluded by the Guardian Council, state TV reported.

Only eight of the 686 people who registered as potential candidates were reportedly cleared to stand.
...
Mr Rafsanjani, who was president between 1989 and 1997, had been seen as a candidate who could win the support of Pro-reform and centrist politicians, whose two leaders from the last election are under arrest.
...
Known for his controversial religious views, Mr Mashaei has been denounced by hardline clerics as part of a "deviant current" that seeks to undermine Iran's Islamic system.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-22615000