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Eurasia
April 21, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
and six against before the deadlock was broken.
The top challenger to Rouhani is set to be stern- faced Raisi, 56, appointed last year to manage the billion-dollar foundation Astan Quds Razavi – an Islamic charity that controls the country’s holiest shrine in the northeastern city of Mashhad. He is thought to have the backing of the 77-year-old su- preme leader, whom some analysts believe he is odds-on to eventually succeed. Raisi has attacked the persistent high unemployment that Iran is experiencing.
When Ahmadinejad was re-elected in 2009 there were widespread allegations of ballot box fraud,
triggering the biggest street demonstrations in the Islamic Republic since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Unconfirmed reports say Ahmadinejad has al- ready faced curbs on his political activities after threatening to mobilise the poor to disrupt the election if he were to be disqualified. Local media said security and police personnel had estab- lished a high-profile presence in neighbourhoods close to his in home in eastern Tehran. And Ira- nian police fanned out across Tehran after the names of the candidates were announced, report- ed the news site of the Iranian judiciary
Mizan Online.