TEHRAN – An official at the Interior Ministry has let slip that discussions are underway to hold the next year’s presidential election one month ahead of schedule, citing coincidence with the fasting month of Ramadan.

According to Ali Pour Ali Motlaq, head of the Interior Ministry election headquarters, negotiations have already begun with the Guardian Council to come up with an agreement.
“Considering that Ramadan falls on next July and elections are difficult to hold during the month, we conducted negotiations with the Guardian Council for a changed date,” the official said.
So if the Guardian Council and the Interior Ministry reach a consensus, the next presidential election will be held one month before the incoming Ramada, he said.
According to the Iranian Constitution, the Guardian Council, made up of six clerics and six jurists, has the authority to vet laws and candidates as well as supervise all stages of election, including dates.
Next year Iranians will elect their seventh president since the 1979 revolution.
President Rouhani is beginning his last year in office amid attempts by rivals to thwart his plans for the second term.
Many analysts will see him to be the fourth two-term president after thrashing out a deal with the West over the country’s nuclear program.
He has also managed to rein in the unbridled inflation rate, bringing it down from a high of nearly 40 percent to less than 10 percent, though at the price of an economic downturn.

AK/PA