Iranian Presidential Hopeful Raisi Pledges to Eradicate Corruption

In a radio program aired on Monday afternoon, Raisi, who is the chief custodian of the Holy Shrine of Imam Reza (PBUH) in the northeastern Iranian city of Mashhad, expounded on his plans to resolve the country’s economic and social difficulties and said the main reason for him to run for president was addressing the problems.

He further emphasized that a “healthy administrative system” is needed to run the country.

“We should identify mechanisms that lead to corruption in government and start reforms from within the government,” the candidate said, adding that through this way, corruption can be reduced.

“When we only say to people that cases of corruption and theft have occurred in the country would not resolve this problem…,” Raisi noted.

The presidential hopeful went on to say that “corruption bottlenecks” should be identified and eliminated.

Raisi, a Principlist, is believed to be a serious rival for President Hassan Rouhani, who is seeking a second term.

Two major political camps are at the heart of Iran’s politics, which are known as Reformists and Principlists. All other possible candidates not affiliated with any one of these two camps are considered as independent.

The 12th presidential election in Iran will be held on May 19.

The previous presidential election in June 2013 saw Rouhani emerging victorious by garnering 50.7 percent of a total of over 36 million votes.

Nearly 50.5 million Iranians were eligible to vote in the 11th presidential election, while the voter turnout in the polls stood at 72.7 percent.