Mohsen Mehralizadeh, the only reformist candidate approved to participate in this week's Iranian presidential election, has withdrawn from the race leaving former central bank governor Abdolnaser Hemmati as the sole non-conservative on the ballot.
Former member of parliament Alireza Zakani, a conservative, also dropped out today and thrown his weight behind the strong favorite, chief justice Ebrahim Raisi.
Mehralizadeh, who served as vice-president during former president Mohammad Khatami's second term in 2001-05, announced his withdrawal in a letter to the ministry of interior in the early hours of today. He did not explicitly say why he pulled out, although his move came one day after Hadi Khamenei — a prominent reformist cleric and brother of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — called on either Mehralizadeh or Hemmati to drop out of the race in support of the other.
"I ask you… to form an alliance with each other, so that with the presence of one of you in the competition, you can sow the seeds of hope in the hearts of the supporters more than before," Khamenei said.
Mehralizadeh has yet to publicly back Hemmati, who has been making a late push to win over voters on ahead of the 18 June election by announcing he will invite foreign minister Mohammad Javad Zarif to serve in his cabinet either as vice- president or foreign minister.
"Iran's economic development will not be possible without strong diplomatic engagement with the international community," Hemmati said. "My administration will be after the removal of sanctions and the use of foreign policy to achieve political development."
Hemmati also secured an indirect endorsement from former president and reformist heavyweight Mohammad Khatami today in an open letter commending Mehralizadeh for dropping out so that the reformist and centrist votes would not be split.
But with just two days until voting begins and with continued signs of bias within the political establishment towards Raisi, the office still appears to be his to lose. Latest polls from state-linked Iranian Students Polling Agency (ISPA) show Raisi with 61pc of the vote, well ahead of his closest challenger Mohsen Rezaei, another conservative, with 8pc.
Zakani's decision to drop out will also strengthen Raisi's chances, particularly after securing his public endorsement. As of 14 June, Zakani was being projected to win around 3pc of the vote.
"Considering the great success of Ayatollah Raisi, I consider him to be righteous and I will vote for him," Zakani said. "I hope that with his election, fundamental reforms will be implemented in the country."
Should any of the other two remaining conservative candidates — former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili, and first deputy speaker of parliament Amir-Hossein Qazizadeh Hashemi — also withdraw from the race, that would again boost Raisi's chances further.
Campaigning began on 28 May and will continue until 24 hours before the start of voting on 18 June. If no candidate secures at least 50.1pc of the vote, the two highest polling candidates will compete in a runoff on 25 June.
