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Families of three Iranian presidential candidates reluctant to appear in TV campaign

Iran Materials 3 June 2013 20:08 (UTC +04:00)
A TV program has been produced in the IRIB (the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) in which family members of the eight presidential candidates are to introduce different aspects of characteristics of the candidates, the Merat website reported.
Families of three Iranian presidential candidates reluctant to appear in TV campaign

Azerbaijan, Baku, Jun.3/ Trend F.Eminli

A TV program has been produced in the IRIB (the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) in which family members of the eight presidential candidates are to introduce different aspects of characteristics of the candidates, the Merat website reported.

However, families of three candidates, Saeid Jalili, Hassan Rohani, and Ali-Akbar Velayati, have not yet accepted to attend the program.

Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel's wife, Mohsen Rezaei's daughters, Mohammad-Reza Aref's wife and son, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf's wife, and Mohammad Gharazi's sons, have so far accepted to participate in the TV program.

But, the TV program is still unknown to be broadcasted after the eight candidates were left unsatisfied with the way the televised debates were held.

On May 31, Tehran Mayor Mohammad Bager Qalibaf, Secretary of Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, President of the Center for Strategic Research of the Expediency Council Hassan Rohani, lawmaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili, former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, former First Vice President Mohammad Reza Aref, and former Telecommunications Minister Mohammad Gharazi held debates on live television in Iran, discussing various problems and challenges that need to be tackled by the new government.

The first episode of the debate focused on economic issues. Mr. Aref and Mr. Rezaee urged a change in the method of holding the debate.

Rezaei said he was ready to debate with economic experts and representatives of other candidates on economic issues.

Aref said for his part that people should judge about candidates. He added that this way of holding debate is insulting.

Mr. Morteza Heidari, the coordinator of the debate said that 20 different scenarios had been proposed with the cooperation of academicians and finally this method was approved by the headquarters for election campaigns.

The debate had been arranged so that it looked like a TV show. The candidates had to answer multiple-choice tests and explain their feeling about certain pictures.

The IRIB (Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting) says due to the high number of the candidates, it is not possible to hold face-to-face debates such as those which were held before the 2009 elections.

Iran will hold the 11th presidential election on June 14, 2013.

The voters will select the successor of the current President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is not able to participate in the elections for the third term according to the country's constitutional laws.

The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.

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