Economy, Foreign Policy Top Presidential Hopeful Haddad Adel’s Agenda

Presidential hopeful Gholam-Ali Haddad Adel said economy and foreign policy will top his agenda if elected as Iran’s next president.

“Issues pertaining to economy and foreign policy which at present are interwoven issues with reciprocal impacts on each other stand at the top of the topics which need to be high on the agenda of any future administration, and I will make them my priorities,” Haddad Adel, now a member of the parliament’s Cultural Commission, told FNA on Saturday.

Haddad Adel has not made an official announcement about his candidacy in the upcoming president election in June, but has formed a coalition with Supreme Leader’s top advisor in International Affairs Ali Akbar Velayati and Tehran Mayor Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf for the election known as the “2+1 Coalition”.

Haddad Adel, also a former parliament speaker, said he and the other two coalition members have not yet come to the conclusion about the best choice for candidacy in the election, and explained, “Instead of choosing one for nomination, all of us might register as candidates and then withdraw in favor of one of us.”

“Yet, the coalition is still open to anyone from the Principlist camp who is willing to join us,” he said.

The Iranian interior ministry announced in September, that the country will hold the 11th presidential election on June 14, 2013.

The presidential hopefuls will register from May 7 to 11.

So far, Head of the State Inspectorate Organization of Iran Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, senior member of Iran’s Expediency Council and a former nuclear negotiator Hassan Rohani, First Vice Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Mohammad Reza Bahonar, Vice Speaker of the parliament Mohammad Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard, Secretary of the Expediency Council Mohsen Rezaei, Iranian Minister of Road and Urbanization Ali Nikzad, former intelligence minister Ali Fallahian, former minister of housing and urban development Mohammad Saeedi-Kia and former foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki have declared their intention to run for president.

In addition to the 2+1 Coalition members (Haddad Adel, Velayati and Qalibaf) Iranian Education Minister Hamid Reza Haji Babayee will most likely run in the June presidential election.

The president of Iran is elected for a four-year term in a national election and the Guardian Council vets the candidates for qualifications.