Iranians go to the polls next week in a presidential election dominated by the country’s crushing economic crisis, brought on by US sanctions and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Seven candidates are running in the race, five of them ultra conservatives – but all have been instructed by the country’s religious and supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to focus on fixing the economy.
"We are facing the most serious macroeconomic crisis Iran has experienced since the 1979 revolution," said Thierry Coville of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris.
The economy is struggling with high unemployment – around 20 percent – spiraling inflation, and a lack of buying power among the population, as basics like meat, eggs and milk become out of reach to some families.
The favorite candidate is Ebrahim Raisi, 60, an ultraconservative who has spent three decades in the Iranian legal system, and who has vowed to build homes, and fight corruption and poverty. He won 38 percent of the vote in the last presidential election in 2017.
The conservative wing of the Iranian political establishment has been buoyed in recent years, blaming more liberal politicians for naivete in going along with the US led nuclear deal in 2015.