Two of Iran's most high-profile contenders for president registered yesterday at the last minute to replace Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who is constitutionally bound to step down after the June 14 vote.
Ayatollah Ali Akbar Rafsanjani, 78, a founding father of the Islamic republic and two-time president who advocates better relations with the West and the Arab world, registered just before the deadline. He is a bitter critic of the outgoing president and considered a master of realpolitik rather than an ideologue.
Mr Ahmadinejad's most controversial ally, Esfandiar Rahim Mashaie, also registered at the 11th hour . He is vilified by Iran's ruling old guard for putting Iranian nationalism above Islam.
The hundreds of hopefuls who put their names forward in recent days - many of them long shots and a dozen women - will be vetted by the Guardian Council, a panel of six clerics and six jurists controlled by Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Candidates are required to have a political and religious background and to believe in the principles of the Islamic republic.
Only a handful will make it on to the final ballot, to be announced on May 23, leaving just three weeks for campaigning before the vote.
Ayatollah Khamenei, who has held power for 24, years, is keen to ensure there is no repetition of the huge street protests that swept Iran four years ago after Mr Ahmadinejad re-election which reformists insisted was rigged.
The ayatollah also wants an end to the highly damaging public feuding between the outgoing president's allies and fellow hardliners which marked Mr Ahmadinejad's second four-year term.
The vote comes at a critical time for the Iranian regime, which is struggling under choking western sanctions imposed over its nuclear programme, and under international and regional pressure because of its support for Bashar Al Assad's regime in Syria.
Ayatollah Khamenei once championed the outgoing president but now wants him to have no more influence when he steps down this summer. Mr Ahmadinejad has repeatedly challenged the supreme leader's authority.
Reformist groups have been ruthlessly suppressed since 2009 and the next president is likely to be picked from among a handful of politicians known for their loyalty to Mr Khamenei.
The ayatollah's interests in the election are represented by a trio of high-profile acolytes. One is Gholam Ali Haddad Adel, 67, a former speaker of parliament whose daughter is married to Mr Khamenei's son, Mojtaba.
The second is Ali Akbar Velayati, also 67, who has served as the supreme leader's chief foreign policy adviser for 16 years. He is a doctor by training who studied infectious diseases at John Hopkins University in the United States.
The third, and by far the most charismatic, is Tehran's suave mayor and Iran's former national police chief, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, 52, a former Revolutionary Guard commander and pilot.
The president's conservative opponents have attacked Mr Ahmadinejad's legacy, blaming him for Iran's economic woes - the main concern of voters - and accusing him of recklessly antagonising the West with inflammatory rhetoric.
Mr Qalibaf recently took the president to task for denying the Holocaust. "We were never against Judaism. It's a religion," he said last month. "No one could accuse us of being anti-Semitic. But suddenly, without consideration for the results and implications, the issue of the Holocaust was raised. How did this benefit Iran or the Palestinians?"
Iran's dour chief nuclear negotiator, Saeed Jalili, 47, also threw his hat into the ring yesterday. He commands respect among Iran's hardliners and lost his right leg fighting with the Revolutionary Guards on the front-line against Iraqi forces in the 1980s.
mtheodoulou@thenational.ae
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Ms Yang's top tips for parents new to the UAE
- Join parent networks
- Look beyond school fees
- Keep an open mind
Company%20Profile
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Key changes
Commission caps
For life insurance products with a savings component, Peter Hodgins of Clyde & Co said different caps apply to the saving and protection elements:
• For the saving component, a cap of 4.5 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 90 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• On the protection component, there is a cap of 10 per cent of the annualised premium per year (which may not exceed 160 per cent of the annualised premium over the policy term).
• Indemnity commission, the amount of commission that can be advanced to a product salesperson, can be 50 per cent of the annualised premium for the first year or 50 per cent of the total commissions on the policy calculated.
• The remaining commission after deduction of the indemnity commission is paid equally over the premium payment term.
• For pure protection products, which only offer a life insurance component, the maximum commission will be 10 per cent of the annualised premium multiplied by the length of the policy in years.
Disclosure
Customers must now be provided with a full illustration of the product they are buying to ensure they understand the potential returns on savings products as well as the effects of any charges. There is also a “free-look” period of 30 days, where insurers must provide a full refund if the buyer wishes to cancel the policy.
“The illustration should provide for at least two scenarios to illustrate the performance of the product,” said Mr Hodgins. “All illustrations are required to be signed by the customer.”
Another illustration must outline surrender charges to ensure they understand the costs of exiting a fixed-term product early.
Illustrations must also be kept updatedand insurers must provide information on the top five investment funds available annually, including at least five years' performance data.
“This may be segregated based on the risk appetite of the customer (in which case, the top five funds for each segment must be provided),” said Mr Hodgins.
Product providers must also disclose the ratio of protection benefit to savings benefits. If a protection benefit ratio is less than 10 per cent "the product must carry a warning stating that it has limited or no protection benefit" Mr Hodgins added.
What can you do?
Document everything immediately; including dates, times, locations and witnesses
Seek professional advice from a legal expert
You can report an incident to HR or an immediate supervisor
You can use the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation’s dedicated hotline
In criminal cases, you can contact the police for additional support
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, (Leon banned).
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
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Popular Vote Tally
The count is ongoing, but Trump currently leads with nearly 51 per cent of the popular vote to Harris’s 47.6 per cent. Trump has over 72.2 million votes, while Harris trails with approximately 67.4 million.
