Two candidates withdraw from Iran presidential race, due on Friday, amid voter apathy

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Ebrahim Raisi. Amirhossein Ghazizadeh Hashemi, 53, dropped his candidacy and urged other candidates to do the same “so that the front of the revolution will be strengthened," PTI reported.Ghazizadeh Hashemi was one of Raisi's vice presidents and the head of the Foundation of Martyrs and Veterans Affairs.

He ran in the 2021 presidential election and received some 1 million votes, coming in last place.Tehran Mayor Alireza Zakani who dropped out this year had previously withdrawn from elections in 2021 in which Raisi assumed office.Zakani said he withdrew to “block the formation of a third administration" of former President Hassan Rouhani, referring to reformist candidate Masoud Pezeshkian, reported PTI.Withdrawal from Iranian presidential elections are common during the final hours especially in the last 24 hours , when the parties enter a mandatory quiet period.Iran is set for polls on Friday after Ebrahim Raisi was killed in a helicopter crash.The former nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili and parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, the two hardliners are fighting over the same bloc. On the other hand there is Pezeshkian, a heart surgeon who associates himself with Rouhani and other reformist figures like former President Mohammad Khatami and those who led the 2009 Green Movement protest, PTI stated.

Iran's theocracy under Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has maintained its stance of not approving any radical change in the government. However, Khamenei in recent days has called for a “maximum" voter turnout, while also issuing a warning to Pezeshkian and his allies about relying on the United States.Widespread public apathy has been observed in the Iranian capital over the election, coming after the death of