Iran’s leadership accused of fixing presidential election

Guardian Council’s bar on reformist candidates has left narrow field of hardliners for June poll

Iran’s leadership has been accused of a transparent fix after most prominent reformists were barred from running in next month’s presidential elections, leaving one of the most politically constrained fields in the 41-year history of the republic.

Delaying the announcement to the last minute, the country’s 12-strong Guardian Council – the body that vets candidates – barred most reformist or centrist candidates, leaving a field of seven, largely made up of hard-liners. The manipulation was so clear that even one of the candidates likely to benefit most, Ebrahim Raisi, the current head of the judiciary, claimed he was trying to persuade the council to rethink. Raisi said he was conducting consultations to make the election more participatory and competitive.