Guardians Bar Rafsanjani, Others

Of the 686 registered candidates for President in Iran, only eight have been cleared to run by the Council of Guardians, and that eight does not include former President Akbar Hashemi-Rafsanjani or current President Ahmadinejad's ally Esfandiar Rahim Mashaei. The exclusion of Rafsanjani, once one of the most powerful men in the country, who was seeking to run as a reformist, more or less guarantees that no one in the race can be called a reformer. While Leader Khamenei can overrule the decision, that may be unlikely; though Rafsanjani helped engineer Khamenei's succession to Imam Khomeini in 1989, they have long since become rivals. But this move may guarantee that the elections lack even limited credibility.