Iran's electoral commission has approved four candidates to run in the country's forthcoming presidential election in which hardline President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is seeking re-election.
The four main candidates in the June 12 presidential election were cleared to run in the contest by the supervisory Guardian Council, the state-run Fars news agency reported today.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, Mohsen Rezai and Mehdi Karrubi are all authorised to compete for the presidency. The candidates will be allowed to campaign from May 22 to June 11, Fars said.
Mr Ahmadinejad and two leading moderate candidates, former premier Mirhossein Mousavi and former parliament speaker Mehdi Karoubi, were qualified to run in the June 12 election.
"The name of candidates ... approved by the council are as announced Ahmadinejad, Karoubi, Mousavi and (former head of Iran's elite Rolutionary Guards) Mohsen Rezai," said an Interior Ministry statement, quoted by state media.
The 12-man hardline Guardian Council has the power to vet candidates for nationwide elections in Iran.
The four candidates were approved after being screened for their allegiance to Iran's Islamic government system and "absolute obedience" to the country's top authority Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Over 450 hopefuls had registered out of which 42 were women. No women passed the test to stand in the election.
Reformists believe a high turnout would give them a better chance to win the vote. But they say state media have not given sufficient coverage of the election to mobilise Iranian voters.
Mr Ahmadinejad's moderate rivals say his trips across Iran ahead of the authorised campaigning period are illegal and should be stopped. The government has refused to halt the trips. State radio and television deny being partial.
Some 46 million Iranians aged 18 years and older are eligible to vote in the polls, Iran's tenth presidential election since the 1979 Islamic revolution.
Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 vowing to share out oil wealth more fairly but critics blame him for disappointing economic growth and high inflation. However, his promises of a fairer redistribution of income still resonate with the poor.
Reuters