5,283 Iranian candidates register for parliamentary elections

TEHRAN,Dec.31(MNA) – Iranian Interior Minister Mostafa Mohammad-Najjar announced on Friday that 5,283 candidates registered for the parliamentary elections across the country, which will be held on March 2, 2012. Candidates had one week to register, which ended on Friday. Most of the candidates had registered to represent the provinces of Tehran and Fars in the elections, Najjar said, adding that 1,006 and 350 candidates had registered to represent these two provinces respectively. Bushehr Province was a province with the lowest number of candidates, with 37 candidates registering. A number of current and former MPs as well as some prominent figures registered for the March vote. Ali Larijani, Ahmad Tavakkoli, Ali Motahhari, Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, Elyas Naderan, Hossein Sheikholeslam, Maryam Behrouzi, Ali Asgari, Mohammad Hassan Abotorabifard, Mehrdad Bazr-Pash, Fada Hossein Maleki, Parvin Ahmadinejad, Hossein Fadaii, Soheila Jeloudarzadeh, Elaheh Rastgou, Hossein Tala, Mohammad Ali Kouzegar, and Asgar Eslamdoust are among the candidates. Ahmad Tavakkoli, who had first decided not to register, told reporters on Friday that he had decided not to run for the elections because he believes that the current administration is flouting the law and is not stopped by the Majlis. However, “I registered due to a number of requests,” he added.