In an indication of growing concern over the campaign of moderate Hassan Rouhani, Fars News --- close to the Revolutionary Guards --- has declared, from an "informed source", that the Guardian Council will discuss the candidacy tomorrow.
The source said the Council will re-examine Rouhani's qualifications, considering charges that he is being supported by leaders of "sedition" and lawlessness.
London-based NGO Small Media, a self-described "action lab helping the free flow of information and creative expression in closed societies, with training, technology and research initiatives that focus on Iran", has published a report on the use of social media by Iran's Presidential candidates.
The report, covering 21-27 May, concludes that the "prevailing attitude is quite negative [about the election] among those on Twitter".
Small Media found that former President Hashemi Rafsanjani was the person most "worth following" on Twitter, despite his disqualification by the Guardian Council almost a week earlier.
Observations after Friday's third and final Presidential debate, following a conversation with a leading EA correspondent on Iran:
1. THE CONSERVATIVES AND PRINCIPLISTS FALL APART IN ARGUMENTS
The immediate headline that the debate was more interesting than the previous two, because of conflict among the eight candidates, does not begin to capture the extent of the division --- notably among those men who supposedly are close to the Supreme Leader's camp.
Our correspondent summarises, "This was a free-for-all in which all went after each other, including the [members of the Supreme Leader's] 2+1 Committee. This showed the three men of the 2+1 do not have anything in common."
Iran's Presidential race has, in many ways, turned into a contest not only between the eight individual candidates but perhaps even more so between the Principlist/ Conservative and the Reformist/Moderate camps.
Although Friday's Third Presidential debate was an opportunity for the candidates to set out their views and policies on foreign policy and politics, it also provided a space to explore this factional divide.
Principlist and conservative candidates --- Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohammad-Baqer Qalibaf, Gholam-Ali Haddad- Adel -- used the debate to criticize the Reformists and past Reformist governments, while Reformist candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref and his moderate counterpart Hassan Rouhani slammed the Principlist movement and the current Ahmadinejad administration. Independent candidates Mohsen Rezaei and Mohammad Gharazi hit out at both factions and called for an end to factionalism.
Some of the main highlights of the debate (thanks to Al Jazeera English and Hassan Rouhani's campaign team, who live-tweeted the debate).
Speaking on the anniversary of the death of his predecessor, Imam Khomeini, the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, warned that through the use of sanctions and negative press against the regime, the country’s enemies seek to decrease the number of voters in the upcoming presidential election. Khamenei stated that the Iranian people should work together for a massive turnout to crush the plots of the enemies.
PressTV is broadcasting --- and translating into English --- the final televised debate between the eight candidates here. EA will be providing a full review of the debate later today.
Amid growing rumors of a possible coalition between moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani and his reformist counterpart Mohammad-Reza Aref --- a move that would unite centrist and reformist voters and avoid a dilution of support for Rouhani --- Fars News, close to the Revolutionary Guards, reports that such a move could be announced as soon as Saturday.
Fars reports comments by Mohsen Mehralizadeh, vice president under the government of President Khatami, who said that Aref is the only reformist candidate in the Presidential race --- but that because Rouhani is a moderate, he could join Aref in a coalition. There had been considerable discussion on the matter with political leaders including former Presidents Khatami and Rafsanjani.
1250 GMT: Qalibaf makes a general call for "generation of wealth" through culture, while maintaining "dignity": "We are not a capitalist society....We believe under Divine guidance we protect human freedom and dignity."
Moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani congratulated Iran on Tuesday evening on an important victory over its rival Qatar --- dashing the Gulf state's hopes after dominating it.
President Ahmadinejad's camp has been blocked at national level from continuing influence, with the disqualification of Ahmadinejad's right-hand man Esfandiar Rahim-Mashai as a candidate, but this may not be the end of the story....
The Ahmadinejad faction has put forth Minister of Transportation and Housing Ali Nikzad as candidat for Tehran mayor, and has named other hopefuls for city council seats, including Ahmadinejad’s sister Parvin and Presidential advisor Ali Zabihi.
Over the past week, several of the eight Presidential candidates --- especially moderate candidate Hassan Rouhani --- have attempted to emphasize that they have female supporters or are reaching out to women voters in their campaigning. EA provides a brief look at some images from the past several days:
Fars News Agency general director Abbas Aslani tweeted a photograph of two women, one a Rouhani supporter and the other supporter of principlist candidate Saeed Jalili, and commented on the difference between them:
Ssturday's campaign speech by Hassan Rouhani, with the crowd chanting the name of detained opposition leader Mir Hossein Mousavi
With 11 days to go before the first-round vote in the Presidential election, three points on the main contenders and a look at the possibilities....
1. JALILI MAINTAINING MOMENTUM?
2. QALIBAF, HADDAD ADEL, VELAYATI --- THE FAILURE TO GET A "UNITY" CANDIDATE
3. THE RISE OF ROUHANI?
4. THE RISE OF DISSENT?
Rouhani At Saturday's Tehran Campaign Rally (Credit: Xinhua)
"This year, 2013, will not be the same as 2009," moderate Presidential candidate Hassan Rouhani told crowds in Tehran on Saturday, as his supporters chanted political slogans and called for the release of Mir-Hossein Mousavi.
The 2013 Presidential campaign --- fairly anodyne so far --- changed at Saturday at a campaign rally at Tehran's Jamaran Mosque, during which police arrested several people at the rally, Saedollah Badashti, the head of Rouhani's youth campaign. Radio Farda, quoting the Reformist website Kaleme, also named Mohammad Parsi, Shirin Mirkarami and Mohsen Rahmani among those arrested.
A video published by the Rouhani campaign showed supporters calling for Iran's detained political prisoners to be released, including Mousavi. Rouhani demanded that the country's "securitized atmosphere" be stopped.
"Our people deserve more peace, more freedom, more prosperity, more honor and more security. This is only possible with your presence. Don't let them discourage you. If people don't show up to vote on election day, they have effectively left the field open to your opponents," Rouhani said.
As the crowd called for a coalition between Presidential candidate Mohammad-Reza Aref and Rouhani, Rouhani said that the first step was to "ensure that we have many people lining up to vote.
"I will say this in a vague way --- this year, that is 2013, will not be the same as 2009," Rouhani said.
During his speech at the Jamaran Mosque, Rouhani also told the crowd that: "With your support, we will open all the locks which have been fastened upon people's lives during the past eight years. You - dear students and hero youth - are the ones who have come to restore the national economy and improve the people's living standards. We will bring back our country to the dignity of the past."
Sunday, June 9, 2013 at 8:28 | 
Ali Larijani & The Supreme Leader --- Credit: Mehr News Fars: Guardian Council May Disqualify Moderate Rouhani
