Rafsanjani barred from Iran’s presidential election


The bold decision to bar former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani from standing in Iran’s 14 June presidential election has come as a shock to supporters who viewed the 78-year-old founding father of the Islamic Republic as the best chance of reform. The unelected 12-member Guardian Council had previously hinted he might be unsuitable on the grounds of his age – all the more controversial for the fact that its head, Ahmad Jannati, is himself 86. The Guardian Council also barred Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, a close aide to outgoing President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has fallen out of favour with Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei since assuming office in 2005.