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         Iran Bars Election Candidacies of Rafsanjani, Ahmadinejad Aide

   Iran says a conservative body has barred two prominent figures from
   competing in next month`s presidential election -- moderate former
   president Hashemi Rafsanjani and a leading conservative allied to
   current president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
   The Iranian interior ministry said Tuesday the Guardian Council of
   clerics and jurists excluded the two politicians from a final list of
   eight candidates approved for the June 14 vote. Hundreds of people had
   applied to be candidates for the election.
   A Guardian Council spokesman said Monday the body would exclude any
   candidate deemed physically too weak to do the president`s job. Many
   observers saw that as a reference to Mr. Rafsanjani, who is 78.
   Ahmadinejad aide Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei also was disqualified.
   Ultraconservatives loyal to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali
   Khamenei had strongly opposed the potential candidacies of both Mashaei
   and Rafsanjani.
   The approved list of candidates is dominated by ultraconservative
   loyalists of the Supreme Leader.
   Mr. Ahmadinejad and his aides have fallen out of favor with
   ultraconservatives after years of power struggles with Iran`s ruling
   clerics.
   The Iranian president is constitutionally barred from running for a
   third term in office.
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   [1]http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-bars-election-candidacies-of-raf
   sanjani-ahmadinejad-aide/1665501.html

References

   1. http://www.voanews.com/content/iran-bars-election-candidacies-of-rafsanjani-ahmadinejad-aide/1665501.html