Iranian presidential election, 2009

Presidential elections will be held in Iran on June 12, 2009.It will be the 10th presidential election to be held in the country. The current incumbent is Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is running for re-election.

The Iranian reform movement has attempted to unite behind a single candidate. Former President Mohammad Khatami had been the leading opponent to Ahmadinejad until he left the race and endorsed former Prime Minister Mir-Hossein Mousavi. Former Speaker of the Majlis Mehdi Karroubi, another Reformist, is also running, as is former Commander of Iranian Revolutionary Guard, Mohsen Rezaei, a Conservative.

Now we know to you exactly who are them ?

Mahmud Ahmadi-Nejad, is the sixth and current President of the Islamic Republic of Iran. He became president on 6 August 2005, after winning the 2005 presidential election. Ahmadinejad became the first president of the Islamic Republic in twenty-four years who was not a religious cleric. Despite his title, he does not hold the highest constitutional office in Iran, which belongs to the Supreme Leader of Iran (Ali Khamenei), according to Article 113 of the Constitution of Iran. Prior to becoming president, Ahmadinejad was mayor of Tehran and governor general of Iran's Ardabil Province.

Ahmadinejad has been a critic of the US and Israel, and backs strengthening Iran's relations with Russia, Venezuela, Syria, and the Arab states of the Persian Gulf.

On Iran's nuclear program, Ahmadinejad has said it is for peaceful purposes. For that stated reason and others, Iran has refused to end nuclear enrichment despite United Nations Security Council resolutions calling for it to do so. Ahmadinejad argues that the sanctions imposed by the West over Iran's nuclear enrichment are illegal and that Iran will continue to abide by International Atomic Energy Agency monitoring of its nuclear program.

According to a speech translation disputed by the Iranian government, Ahmadinejad has called for the dissolution of the state of Israel.He also calls for free elections in the region. He believes that the Palestinians need a stronger voice in the region's future.

One of Ahmadinejad's most controversial statements was one in which, according to the initial Islamic Republic News Agency translation, he called for the "occupying regime" to be "wiped off the map," though the translation and interpretation of the comment is disputed.He has also been condemned for describing the Holocaust as a myth, which has led to accusations of anti-semitism; the interpretation of this quote is also disputed.In response to these criticisms, Ahmadinejad said “No, I am not against Jews, I respect them very much.Ahmadinejad also clarified, "I'm not saying that [the Holocaust] didn't happen at all. This is not the judgment that I'm passing here."

During his presidency, Ahmadinejad launched a gas rationing plan to reduce the country's fuel consumption. He also instituted cuts in the interest rates that private and public banking facilities could charge.He issued a directive, according to which the Management and Planning Organization should be affiliated to the government.



Mir-Hossein Mousavi Khameneh (born 29 September 1941) is an Iranian reformist politician, painter and architect who served as the fifth and last Prime Minister of the Islamic republic of Iran from 1981 to 1989. Mousavi is currently the president of the Iranian Academy of Arts.

He was the last Prime Minister in Iran before the constitutional changes which removed the post of prime minister. Before that, he was the Minister of Foreign Affairs. He is also a member of the Expediency Discernment Council and the High Council of Cultural Revolution. However, as of 2009, he has not participated in their meetings for a long time which is interpreted by political analysts and commentators as a sign of his disapproval. Mousavi holds a Masters degree in Architecture from Shahid Beheshti University. In the early years of the revolution, Mousavi was the Editor-in-Chief of the official newspaper of the Islamic Republic Party, the Jomhouri-e Eslami (Islamic Republic) newspaper.





Mehdi Karroubi ( born 1937 in Aligoudarz, Lorestan) is an Iranian politician and cleric, the chairman of the National Trust Party. He is the resigned chairman and founding member of the Association of Combatant Clerics party. He was the Speaker of the Iranian parliament from 2000 to 2004, and from 1989 to 1992, and a presidential candidate in the 2005 presidential election as well as 2009 presidential election.

Karroubi was also a candidate in the 2004 parliamentary elections in Tehran, but after he ranked thirty-first in the first round, where thirty representatives were chosen, he withdrew from the second round.

Karroubi is a critic of the Guardian Council but at the same time supports the Supreme Leader, and calls himself a follower of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. He was an adviser to the Supreme Leader and a member of the Expediency Discernment Council, by appointment of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, until he resigned from all his political posts on June 19, 2005 after the first round of the 2005 presidential election (see below).

Karroubi considers himself a pragmatic reformist and is an ethnic Lur. As of late 2008 he was the head of the Etemad-e-Melli party (National Trust or National Confidence party).He has been described as a "moderate" with a "mostly rural" base of support.



Mohsen Rezaee Mirgha'ed (also spelt Mohsen Rezai, born Sabzevar Rezaee Mirgha'ed[citation needed] in 1954, Masjed Soleyman, Khuzestan), is an Iranian politician, economist and former military commander, currently the Secretary of the Expediency Discernment Council of the IRI. Before that, Rezaee was the AGIR Chief Commander for 16 years.

He is a candidate for presidency in the 2009 Iranian elections.









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