Representatives of the 8 Iran’s presidential candidates attended a meeting with the Election Monitoring Committee hosted by the Guardian Council’s spokesman, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei on Monday morning.
“In this meeting we are to clarify the procedures of the election [for the candidates] and to hear comments of the candidates,” said Kadkhodaei in a presser just before the meeting.
While the representative of Gholam Ali Hadad Adel was absent at today’s meeting. A few hours after the meeting Gholam Ali Hadad Adel issued a statement announcing his quit from the election race in favor of the “Prinipalist Candidates”. He didn’t mention name of any of the candidates.
The spokesman of the Guardian Council also denied the reports on the possibility of reconsidering qualifications of the reformist candidate Hasan Rowhani.
Iranian Fars News Agency reported earlier today that the Guardian Council will reconsider Rowhani’s qualifications in an urgent meeting today.
“We may give notices to the candidates about some aspects of their campaigning but we not review the qualifications,” Kadkhodaei said.
At the beginning of the meeting, the represantatives of the candidates delivered a short statement about explaining their candidates’ stance on procedures of the election.
“I appreciate the Guardian Council,” said Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, the representative of Rowhani, “It can avoid any misunderstanding if we the representatives of the candidates be present during sealing of ballot boxes,” he said.
The campaing manager of another reformist candidate, Mohammad Reza Aref also said they will be committed to the law in every step of the election.
“Our slogan is commitment to the law so we accept the role of the Guardian Council in vetting the qualifications and counting of the ballots,” he said.
Shahin Mohammad-Sadeghi a representative of Ali Akbar Velayati also said his candidate is committed to the law and will abide any decision by the Guardian Council.
Ali Bagheri the representative of Saeed Jalili also underlined the “important role of the Guardian Council in the last elections” and said: “This initiative by the Guardian Council to have closely interaction with the candidates shows the council has a serious approach [to have a fair election].”
Talking to the journalists, Bagheri denied the possibility of Jalili quitting on behalf of any other Principalist candidates.
“Saeed Jalili will not quit from the race. His popularity is boosting after the TV debates,” he said.
The representatives of Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, Mohammad Gharazi and Mohsen Rezaei endorsed the role of the Guardian Council and wished a fair election with a high turn-out.
Iranians will cast their votes on behalf of one the 8 presidential candidates on June 14.
